World 2 World
by SilverStarr
Summary: (DISCONTINUED) Crossover with GW. Heero? Making wishes on shooting stars? And Umi? Sending the Knights to another world?
1. Prologue: The Wishes

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

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World 2 World  
Prologue: The Wishes

Glaring at the mountain of papers on his desk, the former pilot of Wing Zero wondered if he made the right choice in joining the Preventers. At the young age of 18, Heero Yuy had already made it to the top of the Preventers, second only to Lady Une, founder of the organization. But then even she didn't have so much paperwork—he could have sworn that she purposely pushed all the tedious paperwork down to him.

Like Heero, the other ex-pilots, minus Quatre—delegate of colony L4 and owner of the Winner Company, —all joined the organization, as they had nothing better to do. However, Duo stillopted to keep his jobat the junkyard with Hilde, and Trowa was often performing at the circus with his sister.

Looking at the clock, Heero saw that he only had to stay for another hour. One more hour until he could retreat tothe quiet and solitude of his apartment.

"Yo, Heero!" came an all too familiarvoice as the door burst open. Heero inwardly groaned and glared at the cobalt-eyed intruder, who ignored the look and continued, "Hey buddy, we're going to that new club that opened up down at the corner. It'll be like a get-together, that is, if you come. And you'll come, right?" The intruder gave Heero his best and cutest puppy face that turned all the girls to jello.

Indifferent, Heero continued glaring at the disturbance. "No."

"Aw, come on! You've got to get out of here more often, man! I mean, everyone else will be there." He started to count off names with his fingers. "Zechs, Noin, Trowa, Midii, Catherine, Quatre, that crazy—I mean Dorothy, Sally, who also convinced Wufei to come, Hilde—the most beautiful woman to ever walk this earth, and of course, you can't forget the most important person, ME!"

"Duo."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Duo feigned a hurt expression. "How can you say that to me Heero? After all we've been through, you tell the great Shinigami to shut up?"

Tuning out his so-called friend's rant, Heero went back to the stacks of papers in front of him, inwardly sighing. He wasn't sure which he preferred—Duo's endless chattering or all the paperwork awaiting him.

"—and just because I'm so sexy that all the girls fawn over me isn't a reason for you to get jealous—" Duo stopped as he realized hiscompanion wasn't listening anymore. "Um, Heero?" Getting no response, Duo rolled his eyes and left the room.

Heero looked up as he sensed Duo's departure. It was strange the braided Preventer had left willing and after such short a time, but Heero decided not to question such a miracle.But he should have known it was too good to be true, for just as he was about to return to his work, Duo returned. With a cart stacked with more papers.

"Well, since you aren't coming with us, there's really no good excuse not to do these papers that Lady Une told me to give you. I told her that you might be going to the club with us later, but since you aren't, I guess you're stuck here with your paper-friends. Have fun!"

Heero blinked, inwardly screaming obscenities at his superior.

Duo grinned proudly, knowing that Heero would definitely agree to come now. "Well, I'll just leave now so you can get this done. It's too bad though, even _I_ would rather go to the club than do this."

Duo would rather go clubbing than do anything else, given the chance. Ignoring his fellow worker, Heero tried to weigh the pros and cons of each task—paperwork or clubbing? Paperwork was a routine, something he could deal with, but maybe it would be fun to let loose at a club, as long as everybody left him alone. Knowing he would regret his decision later, Heero grimaced inwardly as he replied, "Fine."

Duo grinned from ear-to-ear. "I knew you'd see it my way! Well, I'll see you at 10 then!" With that, he started to walk towards the door. "By the way, I'll send Relena here when you're off—I told her you'd walkher to the club." He ran out the door before Heero's irritated mind had the chance to process Duo's statement.

Damn. Clubbing, with Duo and—Heero stopped and stared in horror at the open door.

_**

* * *

**_"Come on, Umi-chan! You're taking so long!" a girl with red pigtails exclaimed, jumping around the room and waving her hands around, brimming with excitement. 

Her blue-haired friend giggled and replied, "You know Hikaru, Rome wasn't built in a day," brushing her already neat long hair.

Hikaru stopped in mid-leap and looked confused. "Huh?"

The green-eyed blonde, who was sitting on Umi's bed, just smiled and said, "An analogy, Hikaru. Umi-san, you are already very beautiful."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Thank you. Then let's go!"

"Yay! Picnic!"

The three girls walked out to see all three boys bored from waiting around. A dark-haired man noticed them first and pushed himself away from the wall, smiling slightly at Hikaru's unbridled joy.

"Ferio-kun, Ascot-san, we're ready," Fuu said as she bent down to tap each of them on the shoulders. The two boys blinked a few times as they stopped counting the cracks on the floor, only to see the girls already walking away Lantis.

"Well, you could have waited for us. After all, we did wait for you girls," Ferio huffed as he caught up to them.

Umi raised an eyebrow at him. "Why would we want to wait for you? You're not important."

Ferio just glared at her, retorting, "I am the king of Cephiro, my dear Umi."

"And I am the Magic Knight of Ceres, my dear Ferio."

"Where's the food?" Hikaru asked, trying to prevent a fight between the two. However, everyone stopped walking at this question, looking pointedly at one another.

"Uh—"

"Didn't you have it?"

"No, I thought you did?"

"Wait, no, you had it."

"But I gave it to you."

"Ithough I gaveit to Lantis." Everyone looked expectantly at Lantis, who just shrugged, eliciting a groan from everyone else.

"We're going on a picnic and we don't have food?" Umi exclaimed, not fond of the idea of walking all the way back to the palace to retrieve the picnic basket.

"Well, if we didn't have to wait for you for so long, we might have remembered and—"

"Puu! Puu!" Everyone turned around to see a pink rabbit hopping up to the group.

"Mokona! Oh! We're sorry we forgot about you!" Hikaru apologized as she picked up the creature, who accepted the apology with a purr.

"Puu!" Mokona pointed at her jewel.

"Oh! That's right! I asked Mokona to keep the food for us!" Hikaru remembered as she touched Mokona's jewel.

"Hikaru, you're so forgetful." Umi shook her head and rubbed her temples.

"Eh?"

**_

* * *

_**Finally finished with all the paperwork (completely ignoring the new cart-load that Duo had left in his office), Heero stretched his arms above him and heard his vertebrae crack, eliciting a small sigh of pleasure from his lips.Gazing lazily at the clock, he noted that it was ten minutes to 10. That gave him enough time to file away all the documents and slip out of the office unnoticed, thus avoiding the otherwise imminent trip to the club. As heslipped the papers into their respective cabinetsandbundled upthe ones to be sent out tomorrow, Heero resisted the urge to hum at the thought of dodging more paperwork and avoiding a clubbing incident. Finished with that task, he glanced at the clock again to see five until 10. Walking out of his office and locking the door, Heero prepared to turn and leave when a voice stopped him in his tracks. 

"Heero! Good timing. I guess we can go now," the blue-eyed blonde said cheerfully, nearly skippingup to him.

Heero stared at the girl in front of him, cursing his bad luck. His eye twitched as she shyly grabbed his hand and led him out of the office, all the while talking animatedly.Heero reminded himself to cut off Duo's braid and use it to strangle the American when he saw him.

"The colony delegates are still pressuring me to sign the new treaty to let them access Mars, which isn't evena fourthcompleted. And I know Milliardo would not approve of politicians frolicking about his project at such a critical stage, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to run the idea by him—"

Heero tuned out her chattering as he walked with her, inwardly sulking at his misfortune of knowing two of the most talkative people to inhabit the earth—no, scratch that, the universe. Really, even if he ignored them or demanded thatthey shut up, they wouldn't listen. Don't these people understand that he just wanted to be left alone? How can it be so difficult to find some peace and quiet?

Sighing, he gazed towards the clear night sky and saw a shooting star. Remember hearing once that a wish made upon a shooting star would come true, Heero smiled sadly. Perhaps if he wished for a riot to break out or something, then Duo and Relena would be too preoccupied to bother him with their incessant prattling—but he didn't want to be whisked away into another battle. Realizing his train of thought, Heero mentally scolded himself for believing in such childish ideas. Really, making a wish on a shooting star? How old was he, 8?

"—but of course, they've been pressuring Quatre to do the same thing, for the good of the colony, they say, or to set an example to the public. They even go as far as to comment that he and I would look "cute" together. It's not as if they aren't dropping enough hints."

Heero nodded his head sympathetically, already understanding the issues his friend had to deal with. Quatre had enough problems trying to maintain the Winner company while acting as a delegate for his colony—he did not need the stress of dealing with Miss Queen of the World.

_**

* * *

**_The magic knights and company reached their picnic area, with surprisingly no further arguments between Umi and Ferio, which put the rest of the group on guard waiting for an outburst from the ill-tempered duo. Mokona excitedly produced a blanket and a large basket. They settled down onto the blanket, gathering around Fuu as she removed the refreshments. 

Umi settled herself between Hikaru and Ascot, only to have a small sharp object dig into her bottom. Frowning, she reached under the blanket and grasped a small stone, pulling her hand out to produce a sapphire jewel in her palm. She gasped softly in awe at the small but perfectly smooth tear-shaped jewel, her eyes dancing as it shimmered in the sunlight.

"Heaven's Tear!" Ascot said excitedly, eyes lighting up in childish delight.Everyone looked at him strangely and he blushed, explaining, "They're very rare and powerful, and I've never seen one before, but I know enough about them to know that you're holding one, Umi."

"Heaven's Tear?" Umi echoed, still entranced by the jewel in her hand.

Ascot nodded, taking on a slightly scholarly tone. "You knowhow it's said that if you wish on a shooting star, your wish will come true? Well, some people thought of shooting stars as the tears of heaven."

"I'm not sure those two completely random and unrelated comments have todo with a jewel," Ferio interrupted blandly. "Are you trying to tell me that this jewel is a fragment of a star?"

Ascot paused, pondering. "Hm. Never thought of that, but it's quite a possibilty."

After a few more moments of silence, Ferio cleared his throat.

"Oh, sorry," the young man apologized sheepishly. "The reason the Heaven's Tear is considered powerful is because it's said togrant the finder any wish, and that the wish will come true. And since the jewel is blue and shaped like a tear, they named it Heaven's Tear."

Ferio frowned. "I've never heard of it."

"That's because only the most powerful sorcerers know about it," Ascot replied a little smugly. "I learned about it from the Master Mage."

"He never told us about it," Hikaru said. "Did you know about it, Lantis?"

"Clef told me about it before, but I've never seen one until now," Lantisreplied quietly,also gazing at the jewel in admiration.

"A wish, huh? What are you going to wish for?"

Umi stuck her tongue out at the young king. "That's for me to know and for you _not_ to find out."

"Let's worry about that later and eat first, shall we? It would be a shame to waste so much good food again," Fuu interrupted, recalling how Ferio and Umi started a food fight in the banquet hall during the celebration of Ferio's coronation, and overthe triviality ofwhat color icing Umi should have put on the cake. Needless to say, the little skirmish did not make a very good impression on the new king's council members, who left the hall covered in cake, icing, whipped cream, pudding, and fruit juice.

Umi and Ferio had the decency to blush before they both murmured their agreement and accepted the sandwiches offered by by the wind knight.

AsUmi munched on her sandwich, she admired the jewel in her hand, pondering on a wish. There wasn't much that she wanted, as her parents were both very successful and wealthy businessmen;plus, she had the freedom to travel to Cephiro with her friends anytime she wanted. She had everything she wanted. But then, everything seemed a little boring—there was nothing new or exciting. As much as she loved her life right now, it could get slightly dull and monotonous—how she wished something new and exciting would come along, whisking the magic knights away on another adventure.

"Yo! Cephiro to Umi! Are you still with us?" Ferio pinched the girl's arm.

"Ow!" Umi glared at Ferio and pocketed the jewel in preparation of a verbal battle with the king of Cephiro. No one noticed the jewel start to glow a bright blue.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Wow. Started this nearly two years ago. I believe this is the third revision the prologue has undergone—and it's turned rather long. Ah well, it's much better than before. I dare to say that my writing has improved over the years (or at least, I would hope so). I listened to all the criticism and aimed to follow their advice, for which I am very grateful. After all, what's writing if you don't develop and improve? So thanks to everyone who's there to leave a critical review on how I can improve my writing or the plot in general, as well as to all those who help to provide fresh ideas or are just there to encourage me. Thanks so much!

Anyways, I love this new editing feature—saves me a lot of trouble as I don't have these stories on my computer anymore. Except it's being a little weird. I can't seem to get the spacing right. Hm. Well, I've got thirteen more chapters to try it out on. Hehe.


	2. Chapter I: The Crushes

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

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**World 2 World  
Chapter I: The Crushes**

"No."

"Oh, don't be such a party-pooper! The point of clubbing is to dance—and drink, but that's _all_ you've been doing. Now get out on the dance floor and _dance_!"

"No."

"You're no fun!"

"Hn." Heero downed his third round of Around the World, B54, and Long Island as Duo walked off to dance with Hilde. Everyone else was on the dance floor as well, even the silent Trowa and spiteful Wufei, who were both dancing witha triumphant Midii and smug Sally. Quatre looked quite embarrassed as Dorothy freaked on him, but Milliardo was more than satisfied with Noin's bold moves.

"Heero, why aren't you dancing?"

Heero chose to ignore the blonde and nodded at the waiter, who brought him three more glasses.

"Heero!" Relena whined—rather, screamed—over the blasting music. "Dancing's not that difficult! All you have to do is move to the music! Like everyone else down there." She pointed to the people dancing below them before turning back to him. "Just one dance!"

Heero mentally growled at her for assuming he was stupid.Wanting to prove her wrong and to stop her from pestering him, he sighed heavily, but the sound went unnoticed underneath all the noise. He leaned towards her, causing her to blush, and answered, "Fine. One dance."

Before Relena could process his reply, he stood up and walked down to the dance floor.Relena blinked andg rinned, quickly following Heero's disappearing form amidst the crowd of dancers on the floor.

* * *

The last of the sun's warm rays splashed over the lake, the yellow and orange reflection off the water's surface. A soft cool breeze rippled over the lake's surface and whispered over the grass. However, the tranquility was broken but a loud and piercing scream. 

"**KYAAA!**"

A splash followed the shriek, and the once-calm waters swelled from the impact. A blue head popped out of the water, spluttering and growling obscenities. The young woman glared at her attacker, who was kneeling on the pier—behind where she was seated before she fell—and clutching his stomach in laughter. However, his laughter was cut short as a water dragon crashed down on him, sending him and pieces of wood into the lake.

Ferio popped out of the water after a few minutes and coughed, glaring back at the water knight. "That was so not fair."

Umi stuck up her nose and swam for shore. "Serves you right."

"Brat."

"Jerk."

"Idiot."

"Shut up, bastard."

"I'm legitimate, you old hag."

"Old hag? Why you—"

"Want to take a walk, Umi?" Ascot suggested as he helped the young woman out of the water, keeping a firm grip on her arm to prevent her from lunging at his king.

Umi snarled at Ferio as Fuu helped him out of the water as well, the blonde blushing as she stripped off his wet shirt. Smiling at Ascot,Umi allowed him to lead her away from the others, but not before stating loudly, "Let's go before I decide to do something I definitely will _not_ regret later." Umi threw a nasty look at Ferio—who simply grinned and waved back—before snorting and tuning into her companion's conversation.

* * *

Heero put both hands on her hips and moved a leg between her thighs, pulling her closer to him as they grinded their hips to the rhythm. She smiled seductively at him and moved a hand further down his back, the other finding itself tangled in his hair, rubbing his scalp with her fingernails. Sensing no objection from her partner, she moved her lips across the skin at the base of his neck, tongue darting out to taste the saltiness. 

"I never thought that Heero had it in him," Duo finally told his girlfriend while still staring at his friend. Hilde simply nodded mutely.

The two elapsed into silence again, still staring.

"He sure looks like he's enjoying himself," Duo commented.

Hilde finally broke her gaze away, shaking her head slightly as her eyes landed on another figure. "I don't think Relena's enjoying it."

"She would be if she was the one dancing with him right now," Duo muttered as he followed his girlfriend's gaze, watching a surprised and frowning Relena stare daggers at Heero's dancing partner.

Heero caught Relena's eyes on him and his partner, and seeing her more than displeased face, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity to convince her to leave him alone. Lifting his partner's head up from its trail along his neck, he brought her lips to his own, brushing her lips lightly with his, then sliding his tongue out to lick her bottom lip. He gently took the bottom lip into his mouth, sucking as she moaned softly, closing her eyes andtilting her head up to him. He caught a glimpse of the now red-faced Relena—from anger or embarrassment, he wasn't sure—as well as Duo and Hilde's gaping faces. Heero smirked smugly and proceeded to fully kiss the girl in his arms, tilting his own head a little more so that he could deepen the kiss, his tongue prying her mouth open, sliding his tongue into explorethe newly found territory. Out of breath, the girl pulled her head back, gasping for air, hercheeks flushed and eyes sparkling with pleasure. He pulled away from her and headed back to the bar, leaving the disappointed girl to find another source of fun.

Heero ordered a tequila mix from the bartender, hiding his small smirk behind the glassas Duo moved towards him. He glancedbeyond his friend's form to seeHildetalkingto a still red Relena.

"Manhattan," Duo ordered and the bartender prepared his drink. "That was an interesting demonstration of your knowledge on mouth-to-mouth. Although, I'm surprised as to whom you decided to display such—talent." Duo grinned at his friend humorously.

Heero snorted and took a sip from his drink.

"Never expected that from you, though. Actually, I didn't even expect you to come here in the first place. But we're all having fun," Duo added quickly at the murderous look from Heero. "Although Relena sure doesn't look like she's having any fun."

Heero shrugged.

Duo sighed. "Have some heart. I think—but don't listen to me, I'm not really sure—but I _think_,that when she suggested you dance, she wanted you to dance with _her_, not make-out with some random girl. But that sure was one hot girl."

"Hn."

"Come on! Just ask her to dance one time! We all know she likes you! And that you most likely, probably, _definitely_ reciprocate her feelings."

"Stop using big words that you don't understand."

Duo ignored the jab. "Stop playing Mr. Emotions-Are-A-Weakness—we get enough of that from Wufei. Besides, we all know you like her too."

"Hn."

"So ask her to dance!"

"Give me another triple."

"No! Not get yourself drunk! A club is for dancing! Well, I guess for drinking too. But that's _after_ the dancing!"

Heero answered with a cold look, then finished all three glasses quickly.

Duo smacked his forehead. "How do you stay sober with all that you've had to drink? What is that, like your fifth or sixth round? You'd probably still be able to shoot a fly at the other end of the room. How do you do it?"

"Talent."

Duo blinked in surprise before grinning widely. "Oh, so our perfect soldier does have a sense of humor."

"Hn."

"Fine. Be that way. I thought your sense of humor was quite a nice change from your usualboring self. Of course, no one is as funny as _me_.Especially notyou. That's why everyone loves me so much.

"Shouldn't you be with Hilde?"

"Shouldn't you be with Relena?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"She should be."

"She isn't and won't be."

"Why not? She's smart, funny, famous, _rich_, and definitely hot."

"Of course, Hilde is much hotter."

"Of _course_ Hilde's—hey! That's my girl!"

Heero shook his head. "Well, that guy doesn't know that," he said, nodding his head at the table Relena and Hilde were sitting.

Duo looked over and his eyes narrowed as he saw two buff, blonde guys hitting on the girls. "Why those—let's go, Heero! Teach them not to mess with our girls!"

Heero growled as Duo grabbed his arm in a death grip, angrily dragging the reluctantyoung manto the table.

"—and we've got this really nice beach house a few blocks from here," one of the guys said, trying to impress the girls.

"It's right next to the beach," the other guy explained.

Heero rolled his eyes and Duo snorted in disbelief.

"Excuse me." Duo tapped the first guy on the shoulder.

"What do you want, mutt?" the guy sneered.

Duo's eye twitched. "I don't think these beautiful ladies appreciate your attention."

"And what makes you think they would appreciate yours?"

"That wasn't my question. And I'm warning you now, get your dirty hands off of them."

"And if I don't, braid boy? Is your boyfriend here going to beat me up for you?" he laughed.

"Haha! Your boyfriend!" his friend, a less-intelligent version of the first, snickered and pointed at Heero. "He sure does look like a girl!"

Heero growled angrily. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and slowly released it, counting to ten in an attempt to calm himself. He would _not_ stoop down to their level and start a brawl with them.

"What? You've got nothing to say?" the first scoffed, shoving Heero back a step.

Screw degradation—no one _touched_ him. In the blink of an eye, Heero had the first guy on the ground, twisting one of the arms back at a painful angle. As the other guy tried to jump him, Heero used his free hand to the attacker's fist, squeezing enough to have his attacker on the knees crying in pain. By now, the music had died down as everyone crowded around to watch, the other pilots and their girls pushing through the crowd to get to the center of the commotion. Duo thought smartly to stay away from the angered Heero and instead stood protectively in front of Relena and Hilde.

"No, wait! I'm sorry, man! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make fun of you or your friend, man! Please! Let me go!" the first guy gasped.

"I want my mommy!"

Narrowing his eyes, Heero shoved them away from him, stepping back to glare coldly at them. The two men immediately fled, nursing their injured arms.

"Heero! You could have killed them!" Quatre exclaimed as he emerged from the dispersing crowd.

"Would have served them right," Wufei scoffed.

"Wufei," Sally warned, and Wufei snorted but made no further comments.

"Heero! Thank you for trying not to hurt them too much," Relena said gratefully as she moved to his side, placing her hand softly on his shoulder.

"Yes, thank you, considering Duo wasn't much help," Hilde teased her boyfriend.

"I knew Heero could handle those stupid guys. And I'm smart enough to stay out of his way when he's that pissed," Duo retorted, giving Heero and Relena a meaningful look.

Relena blushed while Heero stared him down before brushing off Relena's hand from his shoulder, ignoring the hurt in her eyes and the confusion in the others' as he walked away from the group. He needed to get out of here.

* * *

"Umi…" Ascot started shyly, blushing and staring at his feet as he shuffled them around nervously. 

"Yes?" Umi glanced up from herseat on the grass and paused her activity. She smiled brightly at him, causing him to blush even more.

"Um, I…well, uh…that is…" he stuttered uncontrollably, trying to find the right words.

Umi giggled and stood up, holding out the two flower necklaces she made. "Do you like them?"

Ascot could only nod dumbly.

"That's good. Hikaru makes these much better, but if you like them, then I'm sure Hikaru and Fuu will too."

Ascot just nodded dumbly again as Umi started to hum and walk back down the path they came. She stopped as she noticed Ascot hadn't moved from his place.

"Ascot?"

He finally raised his eyes to look at her, but immediately looked down again, face completely red.

"You want to head back now?"

A nod.

"All right, let's go."

No movement.

"I think we should start walking."

Another nod.

"All right, let's go."

Still no movement.

Umi sighed and walked back, grabbed Ascot's hand and dragged him along with her, annoyed that he was still acting so shy and flustered around her. And if possible, Ascot reddened even more as he stared at their linked hands.

"Are you feeling okay, Ascot? Your face is really red. Maybe you're getting sick?"She placed the back of herother hand on his forehead. "Well, your forehead is a little warm."

"I just, um, don't feel like heading back yet," Ascot whispered.

Umi frowned inwardly at lame excuse, but not really wanting to break the poor boy's heart andnot wanting to lead him on either. "But it's getting dark and monsters _always_ come out when it's dark! And it's a full moon—there might be werewolves!I'm so scared."

Ascot quickly nodded. "Oh, then let's head back now. I don't want you to be scared or anything."

Umi smiled at his kindness. She was glad he cared enough about her to ignore the stupidity of her statements. Honestly, the magic knight of water afraid of the dark, and werewolves? Actually, come to think of it, she was afraid of the dark, and especially scared of werewolves. Umi picked up their pace and nearly ran across the meadow, oblivious to Ascot stumbling over his long legs.

When they finally flew into the castle courtyard, Umi collapsed on the ground with her legs sprawled out beneath her and panting to catch her breath. "I refuse to ever stay out that late again."

Ascot pat her back comfortingly albeit awkwardly. "Don't worry. We're at the castle now."

Ascot helped her up, to which she smiled gratefully.

"Umi-san! We were getting worried!" Fuu exclaimed as she ran out to greet them, Ferio close on her heels.

"I was not getting worried over that little brat," Ferio sniffed indignantly.

"Then why did you keep pacing around the room and mumbling, 'What if bandits kidnapped them? What if a monster ate them? What if they fell down a cliff?'" Hikaru inquired as she and Lantis came out as well.

"Aw. Were you getting worried? I didn't know you cared!" Umi said, her voice dripping with sweetness.

Ferio glared at her. "I wasn't worried about _you_. I was worried about poor little Ascot!"

"I'm not little!"

"And I wouldn't want to have one of our magic knights to be kidnapped or eaten or injured in any way—who else would protect the king of this castle?"

Umi huffed. "Why would I want to protect you?"

Ferio crossed his arms. "True, I wouldn't want an old hag like you to protect me either."

Umi's eyebrow twitched. "Ferio…"

"Umi-san, I'm sure Ferio was just kidding," Fuu interjected.

"He had better be."

"Besides, he was definitely more than concerned about your safety as well as Ascot's," Fuu finished, warning Ferio with a look. The young king clucked his tongue and turned his head away, refusing to acknowledge the statement.

"What's that in your pocket?" Hikaru asked, bending down to look at the mysterious glow. Umi glanced down and gasped in surprise. She reached in and removed the Heaven's Tear.

"You made a wish?" Ascot questioned, staring at the jewel in surprise and fascination.

"A wish?" Umi repeated, confused.

"The Heaven's Tear will glow when the bearer makes a wish and will stop glowing once the wish has been fulfilled," Ascot explained. "So, what did you wish for?"

"If I told you, then my wish won't come true," Umi answered, teasing him with a smile. Besides, she couldn't even remember that she had made a wish. Hopefully it wasn't something stupid.

"It's getting late, so I think we should head home now!" Hikaru said, glancing up at the darkening sky. "We'll come back tomorrow," she assured them as she jumped up to kiss Lantis on the cheek.

Fuu smiled as Mokona jumped into her open arms, only to be squashed as Ferio wrapped the blonde into his embrace and kissed her fully. He pulled away after awhile, a startled blush gracing Fuu's cheeks and an irritated look on Mokona's features.

Umi sighed inwardly as Ascot came up to her shyly. "I'll see you tomorrow," she told him, giving him a friendly hug. He nodded and hesitantly hugged her back. Umi moved to Fuu's side and grinned at Mokona. "We're ready to go now, marshmallow."

"_Puu_!"

"Just kidding."

"Puu!"

But instead ofthe familiarwhite beam from Mokona's jewel, a bright blue light engulfed the knights and threw Mokona out.

"What the—"

A fierce wind knocked Ferio back into Ascot, throwing the two of them onto the ground next to Lantis. Once the light faded, Ferio and Ascot stared at the emptiness in front of them, confused and shocked. Lantis blinked slowly, face etched in concern as he tried to wake a dazed Mokona moaning in his arms. They needed to find Clef.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Not much action in this chapter—more like an extended introduction continued from the prologue. After all, we must not rush into anything. Heero acted weird, and I didn't even plan for it to be like that. You know how sometimes stories just write themselves? This is a very good example. Well, not so much with the Rayearth section, but the Gundam Wing section just came out. Anyhow, don't know where this is going, so I'm hoping more things will just pop out and turn themselves into plots! Hehe.

Hm. Went back and revised that to be a little more IC, but I think some characters still ended up OOC. But I stick to my explanation that they are no longer fighting and so are more relaxed. Besides, where would the fun be if Duo and Ferio weren't there to wear on Heero and Umi's nerves?


	3. Chapter II: The Meeting

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

* * *

**World 2 World****  
****Chapter II: The Meeting**

Heero was irritated that he had actually allowed Duo to convince him to go clubbing. Heero shook his head to clear his thoughts, glad to be outside in the calm night air. He slowly walked through the park, enjoying the silence and darkness.

Suddenly a bright blue beam of light shot down from the sky, a few feet in front of him. Heero blinked and pulled up an arm to shield his eyes from the light while reaching for his gun. As the light dissipated, he found himself staring at three young girls.

"Home!" exclaimed a short girl with red eyes and a red braid.

"That felt different," the tall blue-haired girl stated, blue eyes blinking rapidly.

"I don't think we're in the tower," a blonde, green-eyed girl commented, frowning as she looked around. Her eyes settled on the brown haired boy in front of her, eyes trained in shock at the gun in his hands, pointed at her.

Noticing the blonde's eyes widen in fear, he narrowed his eyes in confusion, wondering about the bright blue beam and these three young girls who appeared out of nowhere.

"Who are you?"

The other two girls turned towards the emotionless voice, eyes widening as well when they saw the gun. They immediately raised their arms into the air.

"Excuse me, sir, I don't think that's necessary," Fuu tried to reason nervously, slowly putting her hands up in a gesture of peace.

Hikaru nodded vigorously. "We're just a few girls that happen to be lost. So if you'll let us be on our way, we'll leave you alone."

"Three young girls in the middle of the park at this hour?" Heero questioned, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "How do I know you're not some assassins?"

Umi released a snort of disbelief. "Excuse me, but who are _you_ to accuse _us_ of being assassins? You can't be any older than us and yet here you are with a gun, pointed at three helpless, lost girls—okay, not completely helpless, but definitely lost. What _are _you doing with a gun at this hour and in this place, _sir?_"

Hikaru and Fuu stared at her friend as if she were crazy. Apparently the tall girl did not realize that she was only a magic knight in Cephiro.

Heero's thoughts ran along the same lines, dubbing the girl crazy. Who in their right mind would scold a dangerous looking man pointing a gun at them? Nevertheless, he noted that she had a point and warily lowered his gun, still eyeing the three of them cautiously.

Umi released a sigh of relief as she put her hands down, realizing a little too late what she had said. She was glad that he wasn't some murderer and that he didn't fire his gun at her outburst. Maybe he was an officer, although quite a young one.

"Would you mind telling us where we are, sir?" Fuu finally asked, still a little nervous.

Hikaru recovered from her shock as well, smiling nervously as she explained, "We were supposed to land in the Tokyo Tower. I mean, we _were_ at the Tokyo Tower. Well, we aren't anymore, obviously, but we need to get there."

Umi and Fuu stared at her, eyebrows raised. Even they couldn't make sense of what their short friend has just said, and apparently, neither could the stranger because he merely narrowed his eyes more. Hikaru scratched the top of her head, smiling apologetically.

Umi sighed mentally. They were never getting out of here. She focused on the strange young man in front of her, finding him attractive despite the fact he had just pointed a gun at her. Taking in his appearance, she noted his face looked oriental, although he was taller than most Japanese men. Plus, his brown hair and blue eyes were more of a western trait. Now she was confused. Were they even in Japan anymore?

Heero tried to process what the short girl had just said, but even his brain couldn't make much sense of it—but neither could her friends, he noted when they raised their eyebrows. But he knew the girl had said Tokyo Tower, which made no sense at all since they were halfway around the world.

"Tokyo Tower is in Japan," Heero finally answered slowly, as if he were talking to a baby, crossing his arms.

"Yes, we know it's in Japan. Thus, it's name _Tokyo_ Tower. Did you know it was in _Tokyo_, Japan?" Umi asked sarcastically, irritated at this man's tone of voice. They were lost, not stupid.

Heero growled in his mind and replied just as sarcastically, "No, it's in Little Tokyo on the moon."

Umi rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, the _moon_."

"I don't have time to bicker with you, little girl."

"Little girl? I'm sixteen, thank you very much!"

"I couldn't tell."

"Why you—"

"Umi-san, please," Fuu said as she placed her hand on Umi's arm. "Please, sir, we were on our way to Tokyo Tower to meet some friend, but it seems we are now lost. Would you be so kind as to tell us where we are?"

"You're in England," he replied suspiciously after a moment of silence, frowning as to how they ended up halfway around the world from where they should have been.

"_What_? That stupid marshmallow rabbit sent us to _England_? Is he losing his powers?"

Marshmallow rabbit? Heero frowned as he thought that the blue-haired girl and her friends might be crazy. They're either obsessed with Alice in Wonderland or they somehow broke out of the mental hospital. However, that still didn't explain the mysterious light from which they came. Maybe this was Duo's idea of some sick joke.

"Maybe we can stay for a few days! I've never been to England, although I'm here now." Hikaru giggled.

"Are you insane? Our parents might be worried sick about us! Besides, I was looking forward to going home!" Umi stated, then remembered the stranger and glared at him. "Besides, this guy here isn't very friendly."

Heero glared right back, irritated at her audacity. "Friendlier than you."

The two started a glaring contest while Hikaru and Fuu could only watch in amazement. At least they knew this stranger wasn't dangerous—hopefully.

* * *

"Maybe we should go find Heero," Hilde suggested. 

"Nah, the guy can handle himself," Duo replied, waving her off.

"Not because I think he's not capable of taking care of himself!" Hilde replied, smacking her boyfriend's arm.

"Then why are we supposed to look for him?"

Hilde growled in frustration. "You men are so dense! Look at Relena! The poor girl has been sulking ever since Heero left!"

"You mean ever since Heero blew her off."

Hilde glared at him. "You are impossible."

Duo scratched his head. "Is that an insult?"

Hilde threw up her hands in defeat, groaning in irritation.

"You know, I think Duo's right. We should go out and find Heero," Quatre agreed.

"But the night's still young!"

"I'm going to strangle that idiot when I see him," Milliardo hissed, eyes narrowed in anger.

"Let's go, Quatre. We'll go look for Heero and Zechs, you can take the girls back to Quatre's place. We'll meet up with you guys there!" Duo quickly amended as he grabbed Quatre's arm and pulled him away from the fuming older brother.

"Duo, slow down," Quatre pleaded as he tried to keep up with the brunette.

"And let Zechs use me as a Heero-replacement and strangle _me_ with my own braid instead? No thanks. Besides, I forgot to tell Heero about the little after-party at your house, so we have to go find him and drag him over."

"You didn't tell him that we were planning to return to my house after?"

"Of course not. He wouldn't have come."

"Then how were you planning to get him there?"

"I was hoping he'd be too drunk to notice."

* * *

"Where in the world can he be?" Duo asked, tired from running all around the city looking for their missing friend. "Why did you convince me not to take the car?" 

"I didn't think he'd get too far on foot," Quatre replied honestly.

"This is Heero we're talking about."

"Well, we'd better find him soon or the girls will start to worry," Quatre said, walking briskly down the park path. "Are you sure he'll be here, Trowa?"

"I know he likes to come here to think," came the stoic reply.

"It's the middle of the night!" Duo whined. "Who would come to the park at midnight to _think_? Only an insane person would—oh, I just answered my own question."

"Maxwell, do you never shut up?" Wufei growled, tired and irritated.

"I don't think so, why?"

"Well learn how to shut up, now!" the Chinese man snapped.

"Make me!"

"I'm warning you…"

"What? You'll have Sally beat me up?"

"That's it! Get your ugly braid over here!"

"You guys, come back! Please stop fighting! We need to find Heero!"

"I must first punish that braided idiot for his unjust remark!"

"Where did you get that sword? Get it away from me! Somebody, help! Oh, Heero! Help me! Heero?"

Duo stopped right next to Heero, who had finally broken his glaring contest to stare at Duo in a mask of indifference—although he was surprised to hear Wufei's threats and Duo's screams from so close by.

"Heero! We found you! Man, we've been looking everywhere for—get away from me, Wufei! Put the damn sword down! Really, waving a weapon around in front of three beautiful girls."

Duo turned his head to the three girls, finally noticing the oddity of the situation.

Wufei had also stopped, sheathing his sword. He raised an eyebrow at the peculiar scene in front of him, smirking as he finally said, "Is there something you'd like to tell us, Yuy?"

"Excuse me?" Fuu finally asked, breaking the three men's reunion.

"Hey babe. My name's Duo Maxwell, at your service," Duo flirted, picking up Fuu's hand and kissing it, causing her to blush.

Fuu pulled her hand back hesitantly and bowed. "My name is Hououji Fuu, and I have a boyfriend."

Duo winked at her. "And I've got a girlfriend. So who are your friends?"

Fuu waved to the other two. "Shidou Hikaru and Ryuuzaki Umi."

"Now what are three beautiful young ladies such as yourselves doing in a deserted park at such a late hour?" Duo asked, putting an arm around Hikaru and Umi, who shifted nervously under in his embrace.

"Duo!" Quatre scolded as she caught up to the group, Trowa beside him. "Stop pestering the poor ladies. Please, my friend's a little forward. My name's Quatre Rebabar Winner."

Fuu liked the blonde as he seemed like a gentleman. "Pleased to meet you, Winner-san. I am Hououji Fuu, and these are my friends Hikaru and Umi."

"They're lost," Heero interrupted bluntly, annoyed at all the formalities and wanting them all gone.

"Oh, well perhaps I may direct you back to your homes?" Quatre offered.

"Well, we're supposed to be in Tokyo," Fuu began, unsure of how to explain their situation. "I'm not exactly sure how we ended up here."

"Tokyo? That's on the other side of the world. So what are you doing _here_?" Wufei inquired suspiciously.

Fuu looked helplessly at her friends, who shook their heads as well. Umi shifted as she felt a warm sensation in her pocket and glanced down, seeing the Heaven's Tear pulsing with light glows.

"We can figure that out later," Quatre proposed, smiling at the girls. "Why don't you stay at my place for the night and we'll help you get home tomorrow?"

The three knights glanced at each other, confused at his sudden generosity.

"I'm sorry sir, but you don't even know—"

"Thank you very much!" Umi interrupted Fuu, silencing her with a look. "We really appreciate it!"

Hikaru shrugged and nodded, sensing that something had happened with Umi. "Yes, thank you very much!"

Fuu sighed and bowed deeply. "We apologize for inconveniencing you, Quatre-san."

Duo waved his hand in dismissal. "No worries. We're having a small party anyways, so you three can come join us."

"Party?" Hikaru echoed, eyes lighting up in delight.

Duo nodded as he released the two girls from his grasp, instead grabbing Heero who was trying to slip away unnoticed. Heero glared at the impeding arm, knowing immediately that Duo had wanted to trick him into going to the "party" at the club.

Quatre nodded as hung up his cell phone—he had been making a call to his chauffeur, asking for two cars to pick them up at the park. He then offered Fuu his arm, which she gladly accepted. "We have more than enough room for the three of you. It's no trouble at all."

Duo pulled Heero along with him, ignoring the tired but irritated growls. "With the three of you, strip poker will be much more interesting!"

"Strip poker? What's that?" Hikaru questioned. She and Umi walked on the other side of Duo, following behind the politely conversing Fuu and Quatre.

"Oh, you'll love it."

"Maxwell, stop corrupting the girl."

Heero tuned them out after that, the alcohol starting to affect his brain. He was too tired to argue or pry himself away from Duo, and numbly allowed his friend to pull him into the limousine. He usually had a high alcohol tolerance, but that blue light had caused him to become drowsy—he didn't show it earlier simply because he was too surprised to be tired, but now all he wanted to do was sleep. Unfortunately, Duo wouldn't stop talking.

* * *

"What are they _doing_? You don't think they ditched us and went back to the club, do you?" Hilde tugged at her hair again. 

"That sounds like something _we_ would do," Dorothy corrected, the others laughing at the truth of the statement.

"Maybe we _should_ do that," Sally remarked thoughtfully. "After all, the boys sure are taking their time to find Heero."

"If that man doesn't want to be found, he won't be found," Dorothy interjected.

"Duo found him during the Mariemaia incident," Hilde said.

"That was merely a coincidence," Noin explained. "They just ended up going to the same place."

"She's just trying to think optimistically," Relena defended her friend, still gazing into the fire blazing in the fireplace.

"Thank you," Hilde muttered, crossing her arms. "You guys are too negative."

"No, just realistic," Dorothy retorted, raising an eyebrow at Hilde. Before the other girl could reply, a loud voice interrupted from the foyer.

"Honey, we're home!"

"Maxwell, it's not your home."

"It might as well be considering how much time I spend here."

"Most of the incidences in which you were not invited."

"Hey, no need to get jealous. It's not my fault that Quatre likes me so much."

"You're impossible, Maxwell."

"Whoa, Hilde said the same thing! Wait, that means it was an insult."

"I'm glad you finally realized that," Hilde said as the boys came into the living room. "Did you find him?"

Her question was answered as Heero walked in, glaring tiredly at the group. However, Milliardo and the girls were surprised to see three strangers walk in as well.

This is Fuu, Hikaru, and Umi," Quatre introduced. "We found them in the park and I offered them a place to stay."

"What, were they homeless?" Dorothy snapped as she stood up, glaring at the young girl holding onto Quatre's arm.

"They're from Japan," Quatre explained, a little surprised at Dorothy's snappish tone. "They needed a place to stay until they leave tomorrow."

"Well why can't they just get on a plane tonight?" Dorothy hissed, causing Fuu to release Quatre's arm and move aside.

Before someone could answer a question, a bright blue light filled the room and disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. The three knights blinked in surprise as the glanced down at Umi's pocket, sensing a pulsing magic from the jewel.

"I'm tired," Dorothy suddenly said, yawning. "I suppose it's fine that they stay the night. How much trouble could they cause?"

Quatre nodded as he covered his own yawn as he turned to the girls. "I'll show the three of you to the guestroom."

Everyone else welcomed them to England as they retired or simply walked upstairs silently, leaving Quatre and his guests in the living room. The three girls looked at each other in confusion, but followed their host up the stairs nonetheless. Something was going on and it was related to Umi's jewel, but they had to wait until they were in private to discuss it.

* * *

"How convenient: three beds and a bathroom," Fuu said as she walked to the green-blanketed bed, depositing her small travel bag on the floor beside it. 

"Wow! There's this _huge_ closet!" Hikaru exclaimed as she ran through the bathroom into the main area. "And the bathtub is huge too!"

Umi situated herself on the edge of the blue-blanketed bed, throwing her own duffel bag onto the pillows. She giggled as she bounced as she sat down on the soft mattress and layers of comforters.

Hikaru jumped onto her red bed, bouncing up and down happily. "This is like a mini-hotel! I could live here for the rest of my life."

Umi stopped her own bouncing and sobered, pulling out the jewel from her pocket. It was not glowing anymore but all three of them could still feel the magic radiating from the jewel.

"I think this jewel brought us here," Fuu informed them, moving to sit on Umi's bed and examining the jewel in her hand. "Either Ascot-san was wrong about its powers, or this has something to do with your wish, Umi-san."

Umi shook her head. "I can't even remember what I wished for."

"Or maybe it sent us here for a reason?" Hikaru piped in, jumping off her own bed to join the other two.

"But where is here?"

"Definitely not Cephiro," Fuu ruled out. "They know about Japan and England. We must be on Earth."

"Why would the jewel send us to Earth?" Umi questioned, holding the jewel up to the light.

Hikaru shrugged. "Maybe you wished to come to England?"

Umi thought about the possibility. "No, England didn't even cross my mind all day. I remember thinking how there was nothing I really wanted."

"So what should we do now?"

"Ask the jewel."

Umi and Fuu stared at Hikaru, who shrugged again.

"Well, if it sent us here, then it should tell us what we should do now."

Umi and Fuu continued to stare at Hikaru, but finally Umi gave in and sighed.

"Your instincts have never been wrong yet. Um," she glanced at the jewel uncertainly. "Oh great and mighty Heaven's Tear, please tell your obedient servants what you wish for us to do?"

Now Hikaru and Fuu stared at Umi, but before she could even manage a sheepish look, the jewel starting and glowing, then suddenly enveloped them in a bright blue light.

Umi felt as if she were floating, and when she opened her eyes, she was indeed floating—in space! Panicking, she flailed her arms and legs around, panting as she tried to swim—she couldn't think of any other way to describe it—to Hikaru and Fuu, who were also opening their eyes. Then she noticed that she could breathe, and that something glowed and pulsated to her left. Turning her head, she realized that it was the Heaven's Tear.

"Umi-chan? What's going on?" Hikaru asked, trying to reach her friend. As if sensing her desire, the jewel glowed a little brighter as Hikaru and Fuu found themselves moved right next to Umi.

"Is it the Heaven's Tear?" Fuu whispered, gazing in awe at the powerful jewel.

"I think so," Umi whispered back, staring at her jewel.

"Why are we whispering?" Hikaru whispered, leaning her head in between the two.

Umi shrugged and looked around. "Where are we?"

"In space. I think."

"Wow! I've never been in space before."

"Technically, this isn't possible."

"Honestly, Fuu, after spending so much time in Cephiro, you still don't believe the impossible is possible?"

"Well…"

"Exactly."

"That's the Earth! But what are those things?" Hikaru pointed at the ring-shaped objects suspended around the Earth's atmosphere.

"Satellites?" Umi offered.

Suddenly, the found the scene moving past them rapidly, and before they knew it, they had somehow ended up right in front of one of the "satellites."

"This is definitely not a satellite," Umi gasped. Satellites were not _this_ big. This thing was the size of Japan! Something moved beneath them, and the three glanced down to see a shuttle leave an opening.

"I dare say this is a space colony," Fuu finally concluded. "This must be a glimpse of the future."

"Why would my jewel show us a glimpse of the future?"

As if to answer her question, the found themselves pitched forward again, right through the walls of the colony. They closed their eyes to brace themselves for the impact, but instead, all they felt was a rush of air. When they opened their eyes again, they were in a dark room, the only light from two candles on either side of the large desk they illuminated. Behind the desk, a leather chair swiveled so that the seated figure could turn to face them. But what caught their attention was the creature in the figure's lap, its red eyes glowing as it opened its mouth to reveal long, sharp fangs and hissed.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Finally, the knights meet the pilots! There wasn't too much interaction between them there, but they only just met! Just wait until the next chapter—after all, maybe you'll find out just what they are doing in the Gundam universe.

I totally rewrote nearly two-thirds of this chapter. I'm sort of changing certain details so that it makes more sense and it fits into the overall plot better. Also, I'm trying to make the characters as IC as possible, but of course, they will still be a little OOC as I can't really remember how they acted (haven't seen either series in forever) and it wouldn't be interesting if they didn't act this way.


	4. Chapter III: The Jewel

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

* * *

**World 2 World****  
****Chapter III: The Jewel**

Umi's eyes snapped open, bolting up from her bed and glanced around in confusion. She was back in the room, as were Hikaru and Fuu.

"What was that?" Hikaru asked, rubbing her head. "Was it the jewel?"

"If it was, what was it trying to show us?" Umi asked as she looked down at the now dull jewel in her hand.

"That person in that room," Fuu remarked, still lying on the bed, "didn't see us. But his pet did."

"Did you feel the magic radiating from it? That thing was definitely from Cephiro."

Umi shuddered as she recalled the feeling of helplessness and desolation when the creature had hissed at them, capturing her gaze with its bright red eyes.

"Maybe that's why we're here," Fuu reasoned, finally pulling herself to sit on the edge of the bed between Hikaru and Umi, "to take it back to Cephiro."

"I don't think it'll just let us pick it up and take it back to Cephiro with us," Umi said dryly, shaking her head. "Anyways, I thought this was supposed to be a wishing stone."

"Maybe it wants to make sure you're worthy," Hikaru said, smiling, "like how it was with Rayearth, Ceres, and Windam."

"Are you saying this is some _test_ I have to pass in order for my wish to be granted?"

"It sounds reasonable," Fuu agreed. "But didn't Ascot-san say the jewel glows when a wish is being fulfilled?"

"Well, they've never really seen a Heaven's Tear, so they're bound to make some mistakes when making predictions about it," Umi replied. "I'm sorry to involve the two of you into this as well."

Hikaru hugged her friend. "Don't worry! We're the protectors of Cephiro so anything that has to do with Cephiro has to do with us. Besides, you're our friend."

"Hikaru-san is right, Umi-san," Fuu said as she joined the hug.

Umi teared up, sniffling, "I don't know what I'd do without you two."

* * *

"Where's the patio?" Umi asked as the three of them wandered down the left wing of the mansion, lost. 

"Quatre didn't say," Hikaru replied as she examined the vase in the hallway. "This doesn't look like ceramic."

"It's porcelain," Fuu informed her. "It's very expensive, especially with all the intricate designs. I think that's real gold in the patterns."

"Oh," Hikaru sighed in admiration.

"Hey, what are you three doing all the way down there?"

They turned around to see the owner of the voice. Duo grinned at them from the bottom of the stairway, a young woman standing next to him.

"The patio is this way," he informed them, pointing towards the right wing. They smiled sheepishly in return and walked towards him.

"Rahn's been running around upstairs looking for you three," Duo's companion told them, smiling kindly. "I'm Hilde Schbeiker."

Hikaru giggled as she introduced herself. "Shidou Hikaru."

"Her first name's Hikaru," Fuu clarified. "In Japanese, we give our last names first. Oh, excuse me. I'm Fuu. Hououji Fuu." She bowed.

"Ryuuzaki Umi," Umi introduced as well, nodding her head in respect.

"It's nice to meet you all. I apologize for any silliness Duo may have displayed last night. He tends to be a bit immature," Hilde said, grinning at Duo who stuck his tongue out at her.

"I am not immature," Duo replied, sniffing. "But I am hungry, so could we stop lollygagging?"

Hilde laughed at him, rubbing his arm as they led the three knights down the hall. "I'm sure Quatre's guests are hungry as well."

"You'll love the food here," Duo told them as they neared a glass door leading outside. "Quatre has the best cook, next to Hilde, of course. Nobody beats Hilde's cooking."

"—so they want to access the Mars base, but I informed them I would need your permission first," a dark blonde girl was talking to a pale blonde man.

"I suppose," he answered, chin on his fist. "But there's no point in them coming down when it's barely a fourth completed. Why can't they just go to the Lunar Base as they always have for their annual conferences?"

"They want to check up on their investments," the girl replied, shaking her head.

"Can't you do something about this, Quatre?" a violet-haired woman cut in. "Convince the Space Colonial Alliance to stay out of Mars until it's at least half completed?"

"I'm sorry, but it's out of my hands. I really didn't have any say in the matter. Although this opportunity has forced the Space Colonial Alliance and the Earth Sphere Unified Nations to come to an agreement," Quatre argued.

"Excuse me, but I'm here to introduce our guests," Hilde interrupted, winking. She pointed at the three girls, who glanced at one other in suspicious confusion.

"Pardon me, but what was the topic of your discussion?" Fuu questioned, her mind already piecing together the puzzle.

"Haven't you heard?" the violet-haired woman asked. "There's been talk that the space colony delegates want to enter the new Mars base."

"Mars base? What?" Hikaru looked very confused.

"Yes. The new Mars base that my brother, Milliardo Peacecraft," the blonde girl pointed at the tall man, "and his fiancé, Lucrezia Noin," she then pointed at the woman seated next to him, "have been working on for the past two years."

"I never heard of any Mars base," Hikaru said.

"We live in a fairly isolated part of Japan," Fuu quickly interjected, hugging Hikaru's shoulders tightly. "We hardly get any news of the space colonies or this Mars base."

"But you do recognize Relena and Quatre, right?" Hilde asked, only to receive negative answers.

"What? You don't know Relena Peacecraft Dorlain, Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere Unified Nations?" Duo spoke, nearly choking on his bread when the girls shook their heads again.

"But you know me, Dorothy Catalonia?" the blonde who had been glaring at Fuu the night before asked, tossing her hair back. Once again, the girls shook their heads.

"Where have you three been? The B.C. era?" Duo joked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"You could say that," Umi replied uneasily. "As Fuu said, we live in a very, _very_ isolated part of the world."

Hikaru nodded. "I didn't even know we had space colonies."

Umi closed her eyes, trying to refrain from yelling in frustration. "Hikaru…"

"I apologize for Hikaru-san," Fuu said, chuckling nervously. "Her family is very old-tradition."

"I couldn't tell," Duo muttered, earning him a smack in the head.

"Please, sit down and eat," Quatre said, motioning to the empty chairs. "Help yourselves to anything you want."

Hikaru stared at the long table piled with many types of food. "Wow, this is all for breakfast?"

"Thank you very much, Quatre-sama," Fuu said, taking a seat beside Hikaru.

"So how will you girls be returning home?" Quatre asked as he piled some fruit into his own plate.

"I don't think we'll be going home yet," Umi stated as she brushed her fingers over the lump in her jean pockets.

"Why not? Won't your parents be worried?" Noin asked them, pouring herself a glass of apple juice from the pitcher.

"Well, seeing as how you have all been so kind and seem very trustworthy," Umi began slowly, looking towards Fuu who nodded, "we are actually on the run."

At this statement, everybody at the table including Fuu looked up in surprise.

"Umi…"

Umi pretended to brush off Fuu's hiss as concern. "It's okay, Fuu. We can tell them."

"You're fugitives?"

Umi frowned at Heero as he walked onto the patio, raising an eyebrow at them. "No! We're being targeted by people who want to hurt my family."

"Why would someone want to hurt your family?" Heero countered, sitting down next to Duo.

"Because my parents are part of a secret society that protects the president of Japan."

That sounded stupid and unbelievable even to herself, and Umi grimaced inwardly at how their hosts must be taking the story. However, she felt the jewel in her pocket start to pulse with magic again, but it died just a few seconds later.

"Do not worry," Quatre answered, smiling. "Your secret is safe with us, Umi-san. If you'd like, you may stay with us until you are able to return home."

"Um, thank you," Umi accepted hesitantly as she heard Hikaru choke on her drink and Fuu breathe a sigh of relief. Apparently, the jewel had the power to bend other people's wills to suit her needs.

"Quatre-sama, you are a delegate of a space colony?" Fuu asked, suddenly taking on her usual interest in things.

"Yes, Fuu-san."

"What is it like to live in space?" Fuu continued, eyes shining with delight.

"It's very similar to Earth, except everything is synthetic, from the weather to the gravity force."

"I wish we could go there," Hikaru remarked wistfully.

"Relena and I are actually returning to L4 for a conference tomorrow and some of the others, I believe, will also be there on Preventers business. If you'd like, you may come with us," Quatre offered.

"Really?" the three exclaimed simultaneously.

"We don't want to intrude," Fuu added quickly, trying not to let her disappointment show.

"Don't worry! Besides, Relena and I can find some time to relax since we'll need to show our dear friends around the colony," Quatre replied, chuckling lightly.

"How about I suggest a day of rest and relaxation at the beach? After all, Hilde and I will be late in going to L4, so we need to make up the lost opportunity for fun today," Duo suggested, grinning at the thought of seeing beautiful women in bikinis.

"Duo, it's the middle of winter," Hilde stated, crossing her arms.

"But it's so warm outside!" Duo pointed at the sky. "See, the sun is shining, the sky is clear, the breeze is warm, the birds are chirping—perfect beach day!"

Quatre nodded in agreement. "It is rather nice today, but not surprising as we've been having really strange weather lately. Besides, I have nothing planned for today, so why not? Relena-sama?"

Relena smiled in acquiescence. "I was already planning to relax today before leaving for the colony tomorrow. Count me in."

"Sorry guys, but my partner and I have to finish up our project back at the headquarters before we can head up to space tomorrow," Sally sighed apologetically as she and Wufei stood up to leave.

"We actually need to return to the circus to prepare for tonight's show," Midii said, also standing up. "You guys should come and see us tonight."

"We'll be sure to bring the ladies to the circus tonight," Quatre promised as he walked the four of them out.

"So are the rest of you guys in?" Duo asked, focusing on the ones left at the table. Noin nodded, jabbing her elbow into her fiancé's stomach until he grunted in defeat.

"I haven't been out in the sun for awhile, so I suppose it'll be a nice change," Dorothy replied, stretching her arms up.

"I couldn't tell," Duo muttered, quickly changing the subject at the pale blonde's glare. He instead swung an arm around his buddy. "You coming with us, Heero?"

"Remove your arm or I will do it for you."

"Man, you are definitely coming. You need to loosen up."

"Don't make me repeat myself."

"I won't," Duo answered, not moving his arm. "Let's leave in time for a picnic."

"A picnic?" Dorothy echoed, raising an elegant brow. "How old are you, Duo? Five?

Duo ignored her comment and instead turned to Quatre, who was walking out onto the patio. "So how's eleven sound?"

"Sounds good," Quatre answered as he placed his hands on the back of Dorothy's chair. "I'll have the cooks prepare a lunch basket."

"You mean _picnic_ basket," Dorothy corrected, smirking at Duo.

"Pardon me, Catalonia-san, but I must go prepare for Heero," Duo informed her, standing up.

"I'm not going."

"Afraid of showing a little skin?" Umi teased, waving her toast at him.

A painful memory flashed through his mind, but Heero quickly blocked it out and glared at the girl. Unfortunately, his glare faultered as he gazed into her blue eyes, another memory surfacing.

"No worries, dear Umi," Duo assured her, puffing out his chest, "as I've already managed to convince Heero to go to the beach before."

"Please, that was one time."

"And that was because you told him it was for a mission."

"To save Relena-sama from a shark."

"A robotic shark built by terrorists planning to kidnap her."

"He believed all that?" Umi asked, staring at the stoic young man incredulously as he listened to Hilde and Dorothy describe the event. Even Hikaru wasn't that innocent. Unless you told her it was a puppy that needed to be saved.

"Of course not."

"But Lady Une confirmed the details."

"So she more or less told him it was part of a mission to go to the beach."

"And we all know Heero _never_ disobeys orders."

"Maybe we should just ask Lady Une to order him to go again."

"I'll call her right now."

"But today's Saturday, so technically Heero's not working."

"Has that ever prevented him from not following orders before?"

"Would you like for me to call her house?"

"She's on L1 right now."

"Where is she staying?"

"Fine, I'll come," Heero snapped, glaring at his so-called friends. He was growing irritated as they talked about him as if he weren't even there. They didn't need to ignore his presence altogether just because he prefers to keep silent.

"Knew you'd see it our way," Duo said smugly, winking at Hilde and Dorothy as Heero stalked back into the house.

"Impressive," Umi remarked, shaking her head. She never would have guessed such a dangerous and detached young man would do something simply because his superior ordered him to do so. If she ever listened to anything Ferio told her to do, well, she didn't want to think about that.

**

* * *

**

"Where'd Quatre and Dorothy run off to?" Hikaru asked as she throwing a potato chip in her mouth.

"Quatre has an emergency back at the house, and Dorothy went with him," Noin explained, popping up a soda can. "He said he'll meet up with us at the circus tonight."

"Volleyball!" Hilde suddenly suggested as she picked up the ball, moving to the nets.

Duo ran up to her, jumped up and grabbed the ball in mid-throw. "I call Hilde! And Heero!"

"Try not to knock down another fat man's ice cream," Hilde warned him. "But if you do, at least warn me this time before throwing the ball to me."

"Yes, ma'am," Duo affirmed, saluting. "Yo, Heero, why are you going to the other side?"

"I prefer not to lose."

"Hey, Hilde's not that bad."

"Duo!"

"What? He's the one who's calling you a bad player."

"You're impossible, Duo. So how do we set up the teams?"

"I'll play on your team," Umi told Hilde as she brushed sand off her shorts, eyes taking on a dark, sinister glint as she looked haughtily at Heero. "My team never loses."

"Hn."

Fuu saw Umi's look and sat back down immediately, although a little further from the makeshift court, saying, "I think I'll sit this one out."

"I'm with Umi," Hikaru replied hurriedly as stood as far away from her blue-haired friend as possible.

Duo and Hilde glanced nervously at each other, wondering why Umi's friends were so nervous. But they shouldn't have to worry, as Umi as on their team. Right?

"I guess that means we get to play with Heero," Noin said as she pulled Milliardo with her, winking at Relena.

"Ball," Umi commanded Duo, who threw the ball to her. "Service!"

Umi threw the ball up in the air, jumped, and spiked it down to the other side, heading straight for Relena. She shrieked as she hit the high-speed ball, but it bounded behind Noin and outside, but Milliardo darted out and saved the ball, knocking it to the other side. Hikaru moved under the ball for a set and Duo jumped forward to spike it down to the other side, which had Milliardo diving to hit the ball. Noin then set the ball, allowing Heero to jump up and spike it down to the other side toward Duo, who screamed and dodged.

Heero smirked knowingly at Umi, who fumed. He knew for a fact that Duo would dodge every one of his spikes, and planned to use that to his advantage.

"Duo! What was that? You're supposed to hit the ball, not run away from it!" Umi scolded him. She was not about to lose to that arrogant idiot. Besides, her team never lost.

"Have you never seen one of Heero's spikes come at you? It was about to cut my head off!"

"And this is Heero. It was going 100, at least."

"Service."

Umi served the ball to the other side lightly, wanting to catch them off guard. Heero received the ball, sending it Milliardo who simply hit it back. Hilde received the ball and bumped it to Hikaru, who also bumped it to the other side. However, Heero jumped up and blocked the ball, and Duo ran forward to save it and set it up for Umi who spiked it down towards to Relena. Relena attempted to rebound the ball, but instead, hit it sideways, hitting a fat man walking by, knocking his ice cream from its cone and onto the ground.

"Hah! It wasn't me this time!"

Hilde sighed and rubbed her forehead, shaking her head at Hikaru's confused look.

Fuu sighed, "This is going to be a long game." She perched under an umbrella, took a book out of her bag, and began reading.

**

* * *

**

After an hour, the other players were too wary of Heero and Umi and decided to move off the court, letting the two contestants battle it out in the sand. While the others splashed around in the waves and sat around to soak in the sun, Heero and Umi continued their hard volleying, trying to force the other to back down.

"Thought you preferred not to lose," Umi taunted with a smirk, but panting as she sat down on a blanket. He didn't exactly lose, but he didn't win either. Therefore, she could still gloat at the fact that she still never lost a game—she chose to ignore the fact that this was the first game she didn't win in three years.

"Didn't lose," Heero remarked as he sat down in front of her, staring her down. Her smirk irritated him, especially since she didn't win either. Besides, he had to make up for the draw in some other area—and everyone knew he was the master at glaring and staring people down.

"Neither did I, nor will I ever," Umi responded, keeping her eyes straight with his.

"As long as you never play against me again."

"I can play you whenever, wherever, and still win!" Umi answered, still not backing down. Duo chocked on his drink and Fuu dropped her book.

Heero raised an eyebrow. Apparently the girl didn't notice how her words sounded, but he'll correct that. "Didn't know you thought of me like that."

"What are you talking about?" Umi also raised an eyebrow. Replaying her proclamation in her head, her eyes widened as a blush crept up her face. She blinked rapidly as she backed away, shaking her head rapidly. Too late she realized she had broken from their staring contest first, groaning as defeat added to her humiliation. Furthermore, Duo and Hilde were still laughing, Fuu also trying to hide her amusement behind the upside-down book.

"Umi, really," Duo gasped between his laughs.

"That's not what I meant! Stop laughing, damn it. Not you too, Fuu!"

"I'm sorry Umi-san," Fuu said as she tried to contain her laughter.

"I don't get it," Hikaru told them, cocking her head to the side.

Relena stared menacingly at Umi but spoke to Hikaru, "It's better that you don't."

Umi turned away from Relena's intense gaze, nervously wondering why the polite young woman would be looking at her in such a malicious way. Did she do something to offend the other woman? Surely it couldn't have been her ruthless volleyball playing—she hadn't meant to spike the ball so hard in Relena's direction.

"Heero! Where you going, buddy?" Duo called out to the retreating back of his friend.

"Taking a stroll. Alone," he added, seeing the hopeful spark in Relena's eyes. He admits, Umi was very good at volleyball, although he would have eventually defeated her, but she had tired him out and he didn't feel like listening to them chatter. In any case, it was getting dark and he wanted to enjoy the sunset from a quiet place.

As the rest of them relaxed to the sound of the waves and talked about random things, Umi sighed as she rolled onto her stomach, gazing wistfully at the ocean. She missed the constant presence of Ceres and the soothing ocean-like feel he had about him.

"Umi-chan?" Hikaru whispered, a hand on her friend's shoulder.

Umi returned the redhead's smile, murmuring, "I'd like to take a walk."

Hikaru nodded, patting the water knight's shoulder. "Then go ahead. I know how much you love the ocean."

"Thanks, Hikaru," Umi replied as she slowly stood up. Dusting her shirt and shorts, she walked off with a wave at her friends and turned to look admiringly at the orange sky. After a few minutes, she no longer heard the laughter from the others, and she basked in the silence. However, she noticed a solitary figure sitting on a log a few feet in front of her, also observing the sunset. Recognizing the brown locks and well-toned body, Umi tried to turn back quietly.

"Umi."

The girl froze at the sound of her name, although it was neither harsh nor inviting. Sighing, she strolled up to the log and acknowledged the young man.

"Heero."

**

* * *

**

**Author's Notes: **

That was a dull and pointless chapter. I definitely need more interesting ideas. Would anyone like to volunteer an idea or lend a muse? I'm not even sure what's going to happen next. Well, changed the chapter title to make it sound a little better, as you did learn a little more about Umi's jewel. I wonder what else it could do…

Anyways, anyone know where I got the 'fat guy with the ice cream cone' from (hint: movie)? Virtual Heero and/or Umi plushie for those of you that guess right! Hehe.


	5. Chapter IV: The Calm

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

* * *

**World 2 World****  
****Chapter IV: The Calm**

"May I sit here?"

He thought about denying her request, as he wasn't in the mood for talking. He was here to relax and enjoy the sunset, so he didn't want to ruin his own mood by being rude. But he also didn't want her to think that he was being friendly or anything, so he merely shrugged.

Smiling, Umi sat down next to him, also gazing out into the darkening waters and the orange sun. They sat in peaceful silence, taking pleasure in the last of the sun's warm rays as the first stars blinked into the night.

Looking out of the corner of his eyes, Heero observed her profile, taking in the way her fingers cupped her cheek and the content sparkle in her blue eyes, and how her long blue hair tucked behind her ear only to fall across her shoulders like a waterfall. He subconsciously turned his head toward her, taking in how she propped her elbows on her knees, the light smile gracing her lips, and the tiny movement of her upper body as she breathed.

"What is it?"

Heero jerked from his thoughts although he responded by catching her eye. He hadn't noticed he was staring openly at her, and fought the urge to blush as she smiled lazily at him. What was wrong with her, smiling at him like that? What was wrong with _him_, staring at her like that?

"Nothing."

"What do you mean 'nothing'? You were staring at me."

"Was not." Talk about immature. It seemed like being around her for extended periods of time had an unusual, and degrading, effect on his brain.

"Was too."

"It's nothing."

"No, really, is there something on my face?" she queried as she caressed her cheeks with her fingers, a few strands of blue hair falling from behind her ear as she turned her head down.

Not knowing what possessed him, Heero reached out and brushed her cheek, tucking the stray strands buck behind the ear. Umi froze as his fingers grazed the side of her face, still staring at the sand and not sure of how to react. However, he quickly removed his hand and pulled them into his lap, gazing back at the horizon and pretending as if nothing unusual had just passed between them.

Heero didn't know why he did that, except he couldn't resist the urge to want to brush the hair back. Actually, his hand wanted to linger on her face longer, but he realized how strange his actions were already and didn't want to scare her, or himself. And now, he had a desire to start talking to fill in the tense silence, and try as he might to defy it, he found himself opening his mouth before his mind could process his body's actions.

"In the colonies, one never has the chance to enjoy a sunset."

That was not a bad topic of conversation—if he was even trying to start a conversation. Why was he trying to start a conversation? Wasn't he the one who wanted peace and _quiet_? He must be the most hypocritical person to ever exist. She must think he was weird trying to talk with her after—

"That's such a shame. As spoiled and vain as I am, I would still miss the natural beauty of the earth—especially the ocean."

"There aren't even any synthetic beaches on the colonies."

"Really? Then I feel sorry for the people who live their whole lives having never seen the sea. Perhaps that's what I should have wished for—that everyone could have the chance to see and appreciate the beauty of the earth."

Heero wasn't sure what she meant by "should have," but the question dissipated from his brain the moment she turned and smiled beatifically at him. He found the corners of his own mouth twitching and quickly turned away. He was quite surprised that corny replies like "But the ocean is not as beautiful as you" passed through his mind, but quelled such thoughts before they had a chance to voice themselves. He'd only ever been so clichéd in his thinking once, and that was so long ago that it seemed like another life.

"It's getting dark." Another stupid, and obvious, comment.

"Mm. Would you like to head back, then?" Umi stood up and brushed off her bottom. Then she turned and offered a hand to him.

For whatever reason, Heero nodded and took the hand, but did not let go once he was up. Strangely, she did not seem to mind either and so they walked back the path they came, hands clasped together. Somehow, this girl who he barely knew anything about was slowly chipping away at the wall he had built around his heart, all in a matter of one day, and she was further along than even Relena. Or maybe he was just getting soft.

* * *

"Eh? I wonder where Heero and Umi have disappeared off to for so long," Duo pondered while munching on a tuna sandwich. 

Hilde stared at him in utter confusion. "Where in the world did you get that?"

"Huh? Oh, you mean the sandwich? It was in my pocket."

"Ugh, Duo. We're going to the circus soon and having dinner there," Hilde informed him.

"I know."

"Then why are you eating?"

"I need to have a snack before the meal. Duh."

Hilde sighed. "You sure are one a kind."

"Of course. How many other Gods of Death are out there?"

"Umi-chan! There you are!" Hikaru exclaimed as she jumped up and waved to her friend. "Heero-kun is with you too! Now we can go to the circus and see Trowa-kun in his clown suit!"

Heero and Umi had released each other's hand when they came within view of the group, but still walked together, trying to enjoy the last ounce of silence. But Umi didn't mind Hikaru's excited exclamation. After all, no one could pull down the redhead's spirits, and her happiness was very contagious.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Umi apologized. "But let's go to the circus now. I'm kind of hungry."

"Me too!" Hikaru said.

"Me three!" Duo added.

"So how are we leaving to the circus?" Fuu asked as she helped Hilde fold up the blankets.

"Quatre said he would send cars for us at 6," Hilde replied, grabbing Duo's braid and depositing several lawn chairs in his arms.

"That's very kind of him," Fuu replied, smiling kindly. "We must thank him when we see him."

"Always so polite, Fuu," Umi teased, taking some blankets and heading to the parking lot.

"You should follow her example," Heero suggested, throwing her small smirk.

Umi merely stuck her tongue out. Turning her head to hide a smile, she found herself staring into a pair of angry cerulean orbs. Gulping, she turned again to stare down at the sand beneath her sandals, still wondering why the young blonde official was always glaring at her. She didn't want to seem conceited, but surely Relena couldn't be jealous of Umi's superior strength and beauty?

"So, how'd the two of you end up coming back together?" Duo asked, nudging Heero despite the heavy load in his arms.

Heero glared at him, debating on whether or not to add the chairs in his hand to Duo's collection. But if he did that, Duo would probably just whine and gripe even more. What a difficult decision.

"Is there something you're not telling me, Heero-_chan_? I'll forgive you if you provide me with the details of your little rendezvous," the American whispered, eyes glinting with glee.

Dilemma solved. Dump the chairs on the braided idiot's head, which will effectively knock the annoying apparition out and discontinue any further irritating noises. Wait, that would also mean his incapability to carry any items at all, which would result in adding to his own load. Or worse, he'd have to carry the braided idiot. Damn. Dilemma not solved.

"Duo, stop pestering the poor man and come help me load the things into the car," Hilde called.

"Coming," Duo replied grudgingly, but not before grinning at Heero. "I expect a full detailed account later."

Hn. And Lady Une would be receiving a full detailed account tomorrow morning on the death of a part-time Preventer. Imagine the headlines: "Ex-Gundam pilot strangled by his own braid in his sleep."

Heero smirked.

* * *

A loud, piercing scream tore through the tent as a large lion leapt towards the clown in the middle of the arena. 

"Wah! It's going to eat him!"

"Hikaru, he's a professional tamer, so he's more than capable of handling himself," Noin explained. "Besides, those are tame lions."

"Yeah, only around him," Duo muttered, but Hikaru heard.

"Oh no! Then what happens if it runs loose and tries to eat everyone else?"

"You ran in front of a giant, rampaging mutated fox and let yourself get tossed around, but you're afraid of a tame lion?" Umi whispered fervently so only the other two knights could hear her.

"But that was Hikari!"

"So!"

"Wah! The poor cat's going to get burnt!" Hikaru cried, leaning forward as Trowa cracked his whip and the lion obediently jumped through the ring of fire.

"First you're worried about Trowa, and now you're worried about the _lion_. I'll never understand you, Hikaru," Umi surrendered, leaning back on the bench with her hands to support her weight. Sighing, she turned her neck to loosen the muscles—continuously staring down was a strain on her fragile neck. As she tipped herself back a little more in an effort to stretch her cramped legs, the back of her neck came in contact with something, or rather somebody, else. Turning around quickly, she prepared to apologize to the person sitting in back of her, only to shy slightly when she noticed who it was.

Heero sat with his right leg resting on his left thigh, right elbow propped on the lifted leg and his right hand supporting his chin. His left hand hung loosely on his right foot, fingers quietly drumming the rubber of the shoe. He glanced down at the blue head that had bumped his right shin, lifting an elegant eyebrow as the young woman turned her blue eyes up at him. In his state of calm boredom, he absently realized how familiar those orbs seemed—an experienced child behind innocent eyes, an open and stubborn mind shying away at the thought of disapproval and rejection.

Heero blinked out of his reminiscence as the crowd around him stood up and cheered loudly. As he also stood up, he looked down again and caught her eyes, only for her to turn away and stand up as well, cheeringly loudly along with her friends. Heero shook his head to clear his mind. This suspicious girl was reviving old memories and stirring unwanted emotions, and he didn't even know anything about her besides her name and age. And for that matter, she was barely legal. Wait, why was he thinking? Half a year stuck in an office with nothing but paperwork must have fried his brain. Yes—that's it. He just needed to get out and blow some stuff up. Or maybe his operation tonight will do the trick—after all, without that braided idiot around, his mind would finally be at peace. Except for that little factor called Relena. She can be dealt with too.

"Yo! Heero!" Duo smacked his friend roughly on the shoulder, earning him a glare.

"What."

"Man, you spaced out for awhile there," Duo replied, unaffected by the deadly look. "I've never seen you so disengaged. So what were you thinking about, huh?"

Heero ignored the suggestive smile and instead opted to pull the American's braid, eliciting a squeal of surprise and pain from him. Finally, after another glare, Heero replied, "How to murder you while making it look like an accident."

"Huh." Duo stopped and seemed to think about it. "Wait, since when did you think about making things look like an accident? You usually just go in and start shooting at everyone and blowing up everything."

"Would you prefer I blow you up?"

"Well, not really. Actually, if I had to be murdered, I prefer it to be painless. Hm. Then again, I wouldn't really care how I die as long as you give me an enormous feast beforehand."

"Noted."

"Preferably a feast that involves many types of dessert. I like chocolate. Especially anything with 'triple fudge chocolate.' Man, now I'm really hungry."

"I hope you like Japanese, Duo," Quatre announced as he joined them. "We're going to Tsunami."

"I love Japanese!" Umi piped in, clasping her hands together in delight. "Especially—"

"Sushi!" Hikaru finished, jumping up and down in excitement. "I love sushi!"

"As long as it's not raw," Umi said, making a disgusted face at the thought of eating uncooked fish.

"What? But sashimi's the best!" Hikaru pouted.

"Do not worry, Hikaru-san," Quatre soothed the young girl, "for Tsunami is known for having the best of all Japanese food in this country. And as Relena-sama and myself personally funded the owner in establishing the restaurant several years back, we eat for free."

"Wow! You're so lucky!" Hikaru squealed. "I would eat sushi and sashimi everyday if I could!"

"Is that healthy?" Duo wondered. "I much prefer their tastier teriyaki anything. Now that's what I call good Japanese food."

"Salmon teriyaki," Hilde sighed as she licked her lips.

"All this talk of food is making me hungry," Duo grumbled.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," a blue-eyed redhead apologized as she and Trowa walked up to the group. "It always takes forever to wash the makeup off."

"Do not worry, Catherine-san," Quatre said as he smiled. "Your performances tonight were wonderful, as always."

"Yes, they were absolutely spectacular!" Fuu added as she bowed. "I'm Fuu. Hououji Fuu."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Fuu," Catherine replied. "I'm Catherine Bloom, Trowa's brother. He told me about you three beautiful ladies."

"Hikaru. Shidou Hikaru," the short redehad introduced, blushing slightly.

"Umi. Ryuuzaki Umi," the tallest knight said, beaming at the compliment. She liked Trowa's sister already.

"Duo Maxwell. Now can we please go eat?" Duo whined, holding his stomach. "I'm literally starved!"

"Yes, Duo, we can go now," Dorothy said, rolling her eyes. "Just try not to put Naru-san out of business."

"I'll try. But no promises."

* * *

"That was the best Japanese food I've ever had!" Hikaru sighed as walked outside. "Even better than the authentic Japanese food back home." 

"Naru-san hires authentic Japanese chefs, and he personally supervises them most of the time," Quatre explained to her. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

"I feel a little guilty," Fuu admitted, blushing. "We ate so much and didn't pay for anything."

Dorothy waved her off. "Naru gets enough publicity with Quatre and Relena promoting his restaurant everywhere they go. The customers they bring in are more than what we could ever eat here. Except maybe Duo."

"If Duo had it his way, Naru would be bankrupt within a week," Hilde laughed, kissing her boyfriend's nose.

"I don't eat _that_ much," Duo defended, pouting.

"We know, but it's so easy to tease you," Hilde retorted, slipping out of his grasp as he tried to kiss her.

"Ugh, save it for when we head back," Dorothy muttered.

"Jealous, Catalonia?"

"Of you, Maxwell? Never."

"We need to get back now," Catherine interrupted. "We're leaving for Italy tomorrow."

"Wow! Fun!" Hikaru commented.

"When will you be going to space?"

"After our Italy tour. Maybe in a week," Catherine answered Noin. "We'll let you know."

Catherine, Trowa, and Midii parted with the rest of the group, who returned to Quatre's mansion upon his insistence that since the three girls were guests at his house, they would feel better if the others were there as well. Although Heero initially objected, he immediately agreed after hearing of Duo's plans to stay. Tonight, Heero would commence Operation Braid.

* * *

Quatre opened his bedroom door to see Umi smiling hesitantly at him. "Good evening, Umi-san. May I help you?" 

"I'm so sorry to bother you so late, but I was walking around this morning and noticed that you had an indoor pool. Would you mind if I took a swim?"

"Of course not, Umi-san! You don't need to ask me for permission. Feel free to do as you like."

"Thanks, Quatre! I appreciate it!"

Entering the swimming room, she smiled to see steam rising from the surface of the water. She thought it might be heated. Even if it weren't, she could take a little cold—okay, that was a lie. But with a mansion this size, Quatre couldn't possibly have a non-heated indoor pool. Seeing no one else around, she removed her robe, revealing a dark blue one-piece underneath.

"Planning to strip for me?"

"Kyaaa!" Umi jumped in shock at seeing a head emerge from the pool, calming down once she realized it was only Heero. "What are you trying to do, scare the hell out of me?"

"You are invading my sanctuary."

"Your sanctuary? If I recall correctly, this is Quatre's pool. And his house."

Heero shrugged. "I'm the only one who uses the pool at midnight."

"Why would you be taking a swim at such a late hour?"

"I could ask the same of you."

"Well, I like to swim at night when I can't sleep. Or if I feel a little fat," Umi admitted, blushing a little.

"As do I."

"Oh." They lapsed into silence, Umi staring at the ground and Heero wading in the pool.

"Are you just going to stand there all night?"

"No," Umi snapped. Scrunching up her face at him, she sat at the edge of the pool, allowing her legs to dangle in the water. "Mmm. Warm."

"Hn."

Ignoring the other occupant of the pool, Umi slipped in, sighing loudly as she dunked her head in as well. Surfacing again, she prepared to kick off, only to find herself staring into dark eyes. Losing herself in their intensity, Umi managed to stutter, "Uh, I…"

Heero just stared straight back into the crystal blue eyes of the girl in front of him. He forgot why he was here and what he wanted to say, but he suddenly found that it didn't really matter. He eyes traveled down her long and elegant nose to her slightly parted lips. Not knowing what possessed him with an urge to kiss her, he decided to abandon all logic and leaned closer to her face, his hands coming to rest on the pool's edge on either side of her face.

Umi felt her breath quicken as he leaned in, but also pushed herself forward to meet his inclosing head. However, when her fingers released the edge of the pool, she realized too late that her legs and other arm were not doing anything to keep her afloat. And thus, her head momentarily plunged into the water.

Heero's arm reflexively reached out, encircling her waist and pulling her out of the water, allowing her to gasp as she gripped onto his shoulders. He was surprised she had forgotten to keep her legs kicking to stay floating and had to fight the urge to laugh at her stupidity. Nevertheless, he found her to be quite adorable clutching to him and panting heavily in shock, cheeks tinged with embarrassment.

"Thanks," Umi finally said, her breathing returning to normal.

Noticing that she was holding on to him and her face was a mere inches from his, Umi felt another blush creeping onto her face. Quickly looking down, she found herself staring at a well-toned chest—neither buff nor scrawny, but slim yet strong. It seemed he was not just handsome, but had the body to go with it too.

"Sorry, I—"

The warm sensation of his lips on hers cut her off. As Heero was about to pull away,Heero respond shyly, her hands sliding up to intertwine behind his neck. Taking that as permission to continue, he slipped his right hand to rest lightly on her waist, the other still supproting them by holding onto the edge. His kiss was light, but still sending warmth through her body, adding to the already heated water. Then Heero lightly traced her lips with his tongue, causing her togasp and part her lips to allow his tongue to enter. Heero put his right hand on her lower back andpulled her against him, causing her arms to wrap themselves tighter around his neck, one hand running up the spine of his neck and into his hair. Then they slowly parted, resting against one another's foreheads, breath coming out in short pants.

Umi kept her eyes closed, afraid to look at the young man in still holding her. She'd been kissed before, but never with such depth and intensity. She'd had hersuitors, some were rather persistent, but she never took to anyone as much as she did him,although she onlymet hima day ago.She was actinglike some stupid girl with a stupidcrush on some stupid jock just because he washot and charming. Not that she minded, because that was one mind-blowing kiss,but she didn'thave much to compare with asthe other guys who'd kissed her she only allowed themat mosta few seconds of contact.

Suddenly, Heero pulled away, slightly disheveled. He couldn't believe he'd just done that. Well, he couldn't believe he kissed that girl at the club either, but that was just to prove something to Duo and Relena. This time, the kiss was unprovoked and unexplainable. He had promised himself to never get attached again, but this girl just comes and completely turns his life upside down. But he could only blame himself for allowing her to affect him in such a way.

Heero moved away and pulled himself out of the water, shaking water out of his head. Grabbing a tower on the nearby chair, he glanced back at Umi to see her staring at the water in front of her. Slightly guilty, he searched his brain for something to say.

"Good night."

Well, it wasn't the worst thing he could have said. He quickly made his way out of the room, ignoring the fact that he was dripping water onto Quatre's marble floors, needing his space to think things through. After that incident, there was no way he would be sleeping for another hour or so.

After he'd left the room, Umi finally glanced up and looked at the closed door. She placed two fingers on her lips, still a little surprised and confused as to what has just transpired. She couldn't understand him—he was absolutely unreadable. It seemed that sometimes he had a kind heart, and other times, he could care less what happened to those around him. She understood him less than she understood Hikaru! That was understandable as she'd only known him for a day. But he was affecting her more than anyone she had ever met, rousing strange emotions within her. And she liked it.

"Baka."

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**Author's Notes:**

I apologize for updating so slowly. I only just finished my AP testings on Monday—oh, that was yesterday. Haha. I'm tired, sorry. Too much last minute cramming. I spent too much time online reading fanfics that I didn't start studying until a week before the test. Huh.Well, some advice: _never_ try to cram for an AP test. Especially if you're to taking three of them. It's not very pleasant.

Ah, finally some Heero and Umi interaction. Aren't they adorable together? After much revising, this chapter turned out quite nicely. Well, better than how it was originally, but stillnot as great as my favorite chapter. But you might notice I've been instilling some more hints in regards to Heero's past in these chapters. They'll come into play later, hopefully. If I remember about them. I'm fairly forgetful, so don't expect everything to be used. Heh.

Changed this chapter title as well. Some of you probably didn't notice, as I know I completely skip chapter titles all the time. But this is a foreshadowing of what's to come (quite fitting too, since nothing happened in this chapter). So don't expect everything to be all calm and quiet. Heheheh.

Anyways, thanks to all my reviewers! I love you all so much for your support! You actually give me the inspiration, and definitely ideas, to keep writing. But constructive criticism is also very helpful sometimes. So if you would like to flame me—constructively, of course—please feel free to do so! And now,to thank all those that have reviewed so far. Love you lots!

As for all you readers that don't review, no harm done. I'm just glad you're reading and following this story. Strange, aren't I? Well, I understand because I myself, sadly, don't review unless I'm in the mood (quite rare, I assure you). I'm so lazy. Blah.

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Neo Juste Belmont:** I like your idea of Relena being the bad person—but then some of my Relena-supporting friends would kill me. But believe me, I played with that idea a lot because I love it. Thanks!

**Araiey:** Heero _is_ yummy. I'd keep him for myself if I could.

**Karbini27:** I love Duo's braid. It's a shame that so many wish for its destruction. Hehe.

**Amara (Amaroq) of the Wolves:** I'm working on it! )

**Chemu Chomores:** No! You must be alive to continue reading! And I'm starting to soak up some ideas now. Yay!

**Kyen's Angel:** Odd pairing, I know. But it just popped into my head randomly. Strange, huh?

**Darkstar51:** I'm not a patient person, either. I'm sorry to keep you waiting!

**Mangafreak:** No other non-canon pairings besides HeeroxUmi—sorry.I personally like stories with narration, so I find it interesting that you don't. But I'm just a stickler for details. Hehe.

**Kaiya:** For second chapter, Dorothynow saysthose "famous last words" instead,although I think it was better when Noin said it. Anyways, thanks for all your ideas! I used the Umi being calm at the beach one—poor confused Heero. And I'll have to watch The Wedding Planner again because I don't remember a taxi driver and ice cream. As for warping the two worlds together, I had that thought but it was Gundam Wing with Yu-Gi-Oh. I'm just full of strange ideas.

**Mistress of Ice:** Thanks for all your ideas too! I tried to use Heero playing on Relena's jealousy, but then I felt guilty for doing that to her (even though I don't like her). But as for Heero getting jealous of Umi and another guy—well, you'll see. Hehe.

**Sippio:** Thanks for your support!

**Somnus:** Virtual Heero _and_ Umi plushie to you! The fat guy with the ice cream _is_ from Lilo and Stitch. And you're more of a stickler for details than me—so I went back and added those small details just for you. Hehe.

**Timeless Shadow:** Thanks for all seven of your reviews. Hehe.

**Shirahima-syo:** Actually, Gundam Wing is the anime that got me into anime! But I still love Rayearth. And there are lots of HeeroxRelena pairings. But I'm starting to become averse to the pairing for no reason at all. I'm strange like that.

**Mainey:** Other Magic Knight Rayearth characters will come in—_much_ later. But I don't want to give anything away.


	6. Chapter V: The Threat

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

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**World 2 World  
Chapter V: The Threat**

"They are in my way."

**They are not a threat—they have no power in this world.**

"What about the Heaven's Tear?"

**A minor problem. Once the bearer has been disposed of, the jewel will lose its influence.**

"It would be hard to dispose of her when she keeps company with such important figures."

**No matter. There are still many opportunities.**

"It would be unwise to attack her directly, lest we arouse suspicion with the other two knights. I suppose her new companions will be useful after all."

**We are not ready to be revealed so publicly.**

"We will not reveal ourselves. There are many in this world that would start a war by assassinating the Earth's beloved queen."

**And if that fails?**

"I am not without a backup. However, I doubt we will need him."

**Perhaps. But if we do, will he succeed?**

"We shall just have to see, won't we?"

**As you wish.**

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"Wah! It's so big! The windows are huge too! Oh!"

Hikaru was running back and forth in excitement, finding new amusements at every turn.

"Hikaru-san, one would think you've never been in an airport—or spaceport in this case," Fuu said, smiling at the other girl's enthusiasm.

"I don't think she has," Umi muttered, too tired be entertained by Hikaru's excitement. She didn't have the energy to deal with the bubbly redhead—all she wanted to do was get on the shuttle and sleep for the remainder of the trip.

"Tired, Umi-san?" Fuu inquired, receiving a yawn in reply, which did not go unnoticed by Quatre.

"After we leave the atmosphere, the ride should be fairly smooth if nothing happens," Quatre informed the tired girl, smiling, "and you'll be able to sleep for awhile."

"Thanks," Umi replied, muttering quietly to herself, "if I don't have another dream."

Last night, when she finally fell asleep after tossing for more than an hour over the stupid kiss, she had a strange dream. All she saw was a figure seemingly talking to nothing, but a voice similar to the Rune gods replied. It was over as quickly as it started, but it woke her up nonetheless, and kept her awake for the rest of the early morning. It was a wonder how Hikaru could be so energetic when the sun was just rising.

"Heero," Quatre asked, glancing at the young Preventer. "Where are Wufei and Sally?"

"There was a breach at headquarters. They'll join us in a few days," Heero answered.

"Quatre, are we there yet?" Hikaru interrupted as she ran back and hugged the blonde's arm.

Dorothy glared at the girl latched onto her boyfriend's arm, snapping, "No. We haven't even boarded the shuttle because of your incessant running."

Hikaru hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry."

"Dorothy," Quatre began.

"No, don't start with me. It's true."

Quatre sighed. "Do not worry, Hikaru-san. We arrived here early, so we are not really late for our shuttle."

The sparkle returned to the redhead's eyes. "Okay then, let's go!"

Hikaru released Quatre's arm and ran off again, only to be stopped by a distinctive shout of frustration from Dorothy.

"_Hikaru_!"

She stopped and turned around. "Huh?"

"The shuttle is this way," Noin said, pointing in the other direction towards the outside dock.

"Oh." Then she ran off in the right direction.

"What did she have for breakfast?" Umi wondered, shaking her head. Hopefully, Hikaru burns off all the energy before boarding, or she would never get her much-needed sleep.

As the group boarded the plane, Umi's eyes took in the large cabin in awe, gazing at the large couch-like seats. There were two columns of double seats on either side of the private shuttle, with another pair down the center aisle in the very back. Umi trudged to the last pair and collapsed onto one of the seats, thinking she was now too curious about taking off into space for any sleep.

Fuu grabbed Hikaru's hand and led her to another one, knowing the water knight wanted her peace and quiet for the trip. Quatre and Dorothy situated themselves in the front, as did Milliardo and Noin. Relena placed herself in an empty seat behind her brother and graced Heero with a small smile.

Heero really did not want to deal with Relena, but neither did he want to sit across from the source of last night's sleeplessness. But glancing at the blue-haired girl, he found that she was fighting drooping eyelids and thought, with a hint of smugness, that she did not sleep much either and thus would be too tired to start a fight with him. Quickly making his decision, he merely gave a slight nod to Relena and proceeded to seat himself across from Umi.

Umi scowled at the intrusion. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Sitting."

"You're hilarious. Now move."

"I don't see why I should."

"Because you're too close for my liking. Now go away and leave me alone."

"That's not what you said last night."

Umi's eyes nearly popped out upon hearing his whisper. She growled and grabbed the pillow under her head, smacking Heero on the shoulder.

Unfortunately, Heero had not anticipated that move and could not dodge the fast albeit soft blow. Staring at her in shock, he sneered and grabbed his own pillow, prepared to retaliate.

"This is your pilot speaking. Please sit back and fasten your seatbelts as we will now be preparing to lift off."

Heero scowled as he replaced his pillow, annoyed that he'd missed his opportunity to counter. No matter, he'd hit her when she least expected it.

Umi forgot about Heero as she stared out the window, excited at the thought of their taking off to space. First, the three of them are thrown into a fantasy world, and now the future? How much luckier could they be? Well, as long as nothing horrible happened in this world as well.

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"Wah! It's so big!"

"What? You can't even see any of the colonies yet. Even if you could, they'd be mere dots," Dorothy said as she turned her head to glance at the redhead sitting behind her.

"I mean space! It's so big!"

"No really," Dorothy muttered sarcastically.

"Umi. Umi! Wake up! We're in space!"

"Hm?"

The water knight drowsily rubbed her eyes and glanced around in slight confusion. Finally realizing where she was, she stretched herself from her curled position on the seat, yawning as she pondered over Hikaru's words.

"Wait, we're in space?"

Umi immediately sat up, wide awake, and looked out the window. It was completely dark, save for a few blinks here and there. It confused her for a moment as her mind tried to process the endless darkness.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"You did, Umi-san," Fuu replied as she glanced back with a smile. "You must have been very tired to have slept through all the motion."

Hikaru nodded fervently. "It was a very rough ride! Even worse than we're thrown around in our mashins!"

Fuu turned toward her companion and covered the shorter girls' mouth.

Umi's eyes darted around nervously, making sure no one had heard. Realizing that the others were either sleeping or caught up in their own business, she sighed in relief, tuning out Fuu's quiet lecturing. She turned to her side and noticed that Heero was no longer sitting there. As relieved as she was, she looked around and found that he was nowhere in sight. Not that she should care, but she was merely curious as to where he had disappeared.

Still a little drowsy, Umi unfastened her seatbelt and followed the signs to the restroom. Finding it occupied, she groaned and prepared to walk away as the door slid open. Although her previous curiosity of settled, she found that anxiety was now rising in her chest.

"Um, hello."

That sure was a lame greeting, but finding herself mere inches from his face did nothing to help her nerves. Why didn't he say something? Why didn't he _move_?

Heero's eyes roamed over her face, from her nervous blue eyes to her cute little noise, and then down to her slightly open mouth and luscious lips. Not really thinking, he grabbed her and pressed her body to his own. Pulling them into the restroom, he closed the door, pushing her against it and kissing her hungrily.

At first, Umi thought to push him away, but his talented tongue just had to dart out and destroy all sense of logic in her mind—not that she ever had any when he was around. After his tongue licked her lips a second time, she completely gave in and allowed her arms to wind around his neck, one hand running through his hair.

Heero let one of his hands slip under her shirt to stroke her surprisingly firm yet soft abdomen, the other running through her long, silky hair. He let his tongue slip inside her mouth to caress and taste. Hearing her moan softly, he broke off the kiss, leaning down to trail his mouth along her neck.

Suddenly, the shuttle lurched violently, throwing both occupants out of the restroom and sprawled onto the floor.

Umi yelped as she fell backwards, squeezing her eyes shut as she sensed her head reaching the floor. However, something secured itself around the back of her head so that it absorbed the impact instead. Still, nothing protected the rest of her body and she winced as she felt her back crash into the ground. Prying her eyes open, she found herself looking at a profile of Heero's face.

Heero kneeled above her, knees on either side and one hand on the floor while the other cradled her head. His eyes darted quickly to the cockpit before glancing down to check for any injuries on Umi. Seeing none, he pulled her into a sitting position and leapt up, rushing to the front of the shuttle.

"Umi! Are you all right?" Fuu asked as Umi returned to her seat and buckled the seatbelt on tightly.

Umi nodded, slightly breathless—from the kissing or the falling, she wasn't sure. "What happened?"

"I think we're being attacked," Hikaru replied.

"Attack us?" Umi asked. Why would anyone want to attack a civilian shuttle? Sure she was the daughter of one of the wealthiest and most respected business couple in Japan, but that's in a completely different time period! It's not as if they had any important figures on board.

"They must know Relena-sama and Quatre-san are onboard," Fuu said, straining to see through the open door to the cockpit.

That's right. They were traveling with one of the most important figures on earth and one of the wealthiest businessmen as well as delegate of the space colonies. Of course they would try to attack the shuttle. Umi rolled her eyes at her own stupidity.

"What should we do?" Noin asked as she now sat protectively beside Relena.

"Shoot them down, of course," Dorothy replied.

"Apologies Dorothy-sama, this is a civilian shuttle and does not carry any weapons," the pilot said.

"Then how is it that we haven't been shot down yet?" Relena asked.

"The ship has defensive mechanisms, but against the current enemy, there's no way we'd survive—"

Another explosion and a now blinking red light interrupted the pilot.

"Move," Heero commanded as he moved to stand beside the pilot's chair.

"Yes sir," the pilot responded immediately, gladly allowing for the ex-Gundam pilot to take the controls.

Heero strapped himself in as Zechs placed himself in the co-pilot's chair. The pilots rushed into the cabin, securing themselves into the first two seats.

"You're in for a rough ride, girls—so hold on tight," Dorothy called back.

Before Umi had the chance to ask any questions, a sudden jerk of the shuttle caused her to be flung to the side, the secured seatbelt squeezing the breath from her body. As she opened her mouth to release a scream of shock and frustration, the shuttle twisted violently, threatening to turn completely upside down.

"Wah! What's going on?" Hikaru wailed as she clutched tightly to Fuu's arm.

"It's Heero saving our butts!" Dorothy yelled back.

"Can't he save our butts a bit more calmly!" Umi shouted into the front, her hands grasped tightly to the armrests. If this was what the jewel had in mind as a test, then she didn't want her wish! It wasn't worth it! Hell, she didn't even remember what she wished for in the first place! Why did these things always happen to her? Although she felt slightly sorrier for Fuu since she had to deal with Hikaru's death grip.

"Where in the world did these mobile suits come from? Even the Preventers have a limited supply that are locked down," Milliardo growled, only narrowing his eyes further as the shuttle lurched again and another red light began blinking. "Shit, the fuel tank level's dropping dangerously fast—they must have hit the tank."

"What! Wouldn't we have exploded then?" Umi asked, exchanging panicked glances with Fuu.

"I understand that Japan's not exactly on the best terms with the ESUN, but are they really so ignorant?" Dorothy sneered. "Nearly 95 of the population now uses the new fuel especially designed to not explode under high temperatures."

"Really?" Fuu gasped in awe.

"Not now, Fuu," Umi warned, knowing the scholarly tone her friend's voice all too well.

"Preventers units are on the way from L4," Milliardo informed them.

"Hn." Heero glared at the two mobile suits in front of him before swerving out of their line of fire. He could have them within the colony's defense systems before the units even arrived. Even with Milliardo and Noin's training, those new recruits were nearly useless.

Umi screamed as she was flung forward to her seatbelt's limit. Eyes ablaze, she snarled to the current pilot, "Do you not know how to fly a shuttle? Even I could fly this thing better than you!"

Heero's eye twitched. It actually irritated and—he hated to admit—hurt him for her to insult his piloting skills. Although Duo could very much match his skills in this particular area, he was still quite proud of his ability. Really, he'd never been annoyed because someone insulted his capabilities—then again, no one ever insulted his capabilities.

Turning sharply again and switching off a few systems to conserve energy, he motioned for Milliardo to take the controls. Heero removed himself from the seat and stalked back to the cabin, stopping in front of the blue-haired girl.

"What? Finally acknowledging the fact that I'm right? Wait a minute, who's flying the shuttle?"

"You are," he growled as he unbuckled her from her seat and grabbed her wrist. He then dragged her toward the cockpit. "If you think you can fly better, than I'd like to see you try."

Umi blanched. "What?"

"Heero, that's not funny," Noin cut in. "This is not the time to be scaring the girl out of her mind."

"I'm not scared," Umi huffed quietly.

"Don't worry, Noin-san," Hikaru piped in and loosening her grip on Fuu's arm, "we trust Umi. We've actually been in a plane that she piloted."

"Maybe it's not a good idea," Fuu countered, recalling that trip. Umi had tried to serve from hitting a bird, realizing too late that she was piloting a small jet and not driving a car.

Heero ignored their frightened cries and Quatre's gaping expression, pushing Umi into his previous seat. Staring at him in horror, Milliardo immediately proceeded to scream his lungs out.

"Are you insane! There are lives at stake here! This is the girl's first time in a shuttle and you expect her to fly it! When we're being attacked by enemy suits!"

Heero shrugged. "I know what I'm doing."

"I don't think you do," Milliardo countered, but still keeping his eye on dodging the enemy.

"Excuse me," Umi interrupted hotly, her stubborn pride overriding her logic, "but I think I can fly a shuttle. I've flown a plane better than most experience pilots."

"In the middle of a battle?" Milliardo interjected.

"I think dodging lightning bolts could be considered close enough."

Sensing that Heero was ready to pry him out of his seat by force, Milliardo finally backed down and moved aside to let Heero sit in the co-pilot's chair.

"We're going to die," Milliardo muttered, "and I'm allowing it. Noin, Relena—please forgive me."

Quatre craned his head forward, sweat sliding down his forehead. "I don't think—"

Umi sat down and gripped the wheel, just as they were hit again and an electronic voice announced that their defense was down 50. At least this should be easier since there were defense systems. Even with the mashins she doubted she had this much protection.

"You won't be able to increase your speed—we need to use as little fuel as possible if we want to make it to the colony."

Umi decided not to mention that she didn't know how to boost the jets anyways. She focused on steering the shuttle, keeping one eye on the radar. A blinking light showed one of the enemy suits right on their tail and she saw the other slightly to their forward right, so she kept a slowly veering path and allowed for the first suit behind them to come within mere meters of the shuttle. As the suit seemed to match the shuttle's pace, Umi immediately banked a hard left, just in time to see a light shoot past them and straight at the second suit. The shot destroyed the second suit's weapon.

Umi narrowed her eyes as something started to pulse in her pocket. As she remembered the Heaven's Tear, the steering wheel jerked sharply, directing the shuttle towards the second suit. A little surprised, she stared at the wheel in slight concern, wondering what the jewel was up to.

Noticing her concerned look, Heero actually felt a flicker of doubt. It seemed she wasn't sure what she was doing, and that stunt back there was quite dangerous—for a young woman, that is. But she did say her parents were part of a secret society that protected the president of Japan, so it's plausible she had some training. His pushed his thoughts away as he noticed that she was headed directly for the second suit.

"What are you doing?" came Milliardo's slightly panicked voice through the open door. He was craning his head and could see their path. "We're supposed to avoid the mobile suits, not try to destroy them on a suicide mission!"

"I'm not on a suicide mission," Umi replied, although she also doubted the jewel's actions—but only a little. "It's just a…game of chicken."

"There are civilians on board! Even Heero wouldn't think of doing something so dangerous with civilians on board!"

Heero scowled. How dare that 'Gundam-pilot-wannabe' assume to know what he would or would not do? True, he wouldn't risk the lives of civilians, but he would still do something like this if he was certain that he would succeed—and he never failed (of course, completely forgetting about that time he tried to and couldn't kill Relena, and then when he accidentally assassinated Noventa).

Everyone braced themselves as the shuttle neared the strangely immobile suit. Only when there was a few meters' distance between the two objects did the mobile suit's boosters suddenly turn on and lift the mobile suit up, crashing into the first suit that had been following shuttle from above. The explosion from above rocked the shuttle, but Heero managed to help Umi guide the shuttle safely away.

Milliardo immediately jumped up and into the cockpit, bellowing, "Are you insane? If that pilot had been like Heero, then we would all be dead now!"

Heero scowled again. He did not like how he was constantly being used as a bad example, despite the truth of the statements.

Umi sighed quietly before turning to look at the standing man. "Hey, I think I did pretty well."

"Yes, you did," Milliardo commented slowly, darting a suspicious glance at the girl. "How did you know how to fly so well?"

"Well, my parents taught me to fly their private jet," Umi replied. It was the truth—her parents thought it would be interesting for her to learn to fly. "The shuttle's not much different, except the thrusters—I didn't really know how to work those."

"Then maybe next time, you'll care to learn about those before you try to get us killed again," Milliardo hissed.

"Kyaa! There's more!" Umi cried as four mobile suits appeared around them.

"Ignore them," Heero dismissed.

"Preventers MSU—Mobile Suit Unit—of L4," Quatre explained as he also entered the cockpit. "Each colony and country has an MSU, with at least five mobile suits each. Japan should have one too."

"Oh," Umi replied sheepishly. "I'm not really up-to-date on current events."

"Clearly," Milliardo muttered. "Now please kindly remove yourself. Heero and I will land the shuttle."

Umi huffed silently but stood up and moved back into the cabin, ignoring the fearful yet relieved faces of the other occupants.

"That was very dangerous, Umi-san," Fuu scolded despite her smile.

"I'm sorry to have worried you, Fuu," Umi apologized with a smile before her face turned serious. "But I need to talk to you guys later—about the jewel."

"Okay," Hikaru replied, beaming. "But that was a fun ride—can we do it again?"

**

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Preventers teams and news reporters bombarded the group as they stepped down from the shuttle. Heero and Milliardo immediately walked to the side and began directing the Preventers. Noin kept close to Relena as they joined Quatre and Dorothy in addressing the media.

"Umi-san! Umi-san! Dorothy-sama informed us that you were the one safely directed the shuttle to safety and destroyed both enemy mobile suits!"

"Yes, please tell us how you managed such an amazing feat!"

"No, Umi-san, over here!"

"No, we have questions over here, Umi-san!"

"Over here, Umi-san!"

"Umi-san!"

Umi blinked as all the reporters swarmed around her, each trying to capture her attention. It seemed that even in the future, the media never changes. Sighing mentally, she faced all of them calmly with a slightly superior look. Sensing her preparation to speak, the reporters quieted down and watched her in anticipation, like a cat waiting to pounce on the cornered mouse.

"Ladies and gentleman, thank you for your considerations. However, I am afraid that I do not have the right to speak as I am not the true 'hero.' I can tell you that Heero Yuy was the one who actually safely guided us away from the enemy and into the colony. If you have any questions, I'm sure he will be more than happy to answer them for you. Thank you."

Leaving no room for arguments with her firm tone, Umi immediately turned on her heels and grabbed Hikaru and Fuu, dragging them away. She applauded herself on dodging the reporters successfully—just like back home with her parents—and directing them to Heero. Unfortunately, she noticed the reporters were hesitant to move towards the ex-Gundam pilot, so they instead flocked back to Relena and Quatre.

Heero caught Umi glancing at him disappointedly and replied with a smug smirk. He had to admit she handled the reporters very well, and did not bask in their attention as he had expected. Although her attempt to turn the reporters' attention to him had failed—she still had a lot to learn about him—he silently applauded her abilities to deal with the media.

"Um, hello, I'm Taylor. Uh, Taylor McCarthy. I'm, um, I just want to make sure that you girls are safely—I mean, arrived safe—I mean, are safe."

The three knights turned to glance at the tall blonde before them. Umi's eyes traveled quickly across his face and body in appreciation. He was quite good-looking, with the clear blue eyes and nicely-toned body, but he reminded her of Ascot with that stuttering..

"Hello McCarthy-kun! I'm Hikaru!"

"And I am Fuu." She offered a polite hand, which Taylor accepted timidly.

"Wah! Those things are landing!" Hikaru exclaimed as the mobile suits entered the hanger. The short girl ran towards them in excitement.

"Hikaru-san! I apologize for running off, Taylor-san," Fuu said as she quickly ran after the redhead.

Umi shook her head and smiled. "Hikaru's always like that. I'm Umi, by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Taylor smiled as he took her offered hand and brought it to his lips. "Pleasure's all mine."

Umi raised an eyebrow. Apparently, she was wrong—he was rather charming and not shy at all.

"I heard about your heroic actions," Taylor commented, still holding her hand.

Umi tugged her hand back gently. "Actually, I just wanted to prove something."

"And did you?"

"Prove it? Of course," Umi grinned. After all, she never backed down from a challenge—despite an implied one—and always succeeded. Noticing that Taylor's eyes started to wander to the ground and that he shuffled his feet nervously, she cocked her head to one side in confusion.

"Are you all right? You look a little pale." Umi reached a hand to pat his shoulder, but he backed up slightly. She drew her hand back immediately, slightly offended.

Seeing her frown, Taylor quickly explained, "I'm sorry. I'm usually not shy around beautiful young women, but I'm already risking my neck by coming here to talk to you."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Well, we all think you're very beautiful, but are quite afraid to come talk to you. We've seen him be quite protective of Relena-sama, but that was when he was her personal bodyguard, so it's understandable that he would be suspicious of anyone trying to cause her bodily harm—"

"Taylor," Umi interrupted, holding up a hand, "you're rambling."

Taylor scratched his head sheepishly. "Sorry. It's just that I don't think he'd appreciate us talking to you at all, what with the way he's been glaring at us for even coming too close. But I had to come because Zechs-sama assigned me to check up on you guys—"

"Taylor, what are you talking about? Who are you so afraid of?"

"General Yuy, of course!"

"Heero? Why would you be afraid of him?"

"Because you're his girlfriend."

"_What?_"

"You're…not?"

"No! Who told you I was his girlfriend?"

"Duo-san. So you and General Yuy are not together?"

"Of course not! That's preposterous! Duo's so dead the next time I see him!" Honestly, Heero's girlfriend. Sure, they made out twice, but that didn't mean she liked him. Fine, she was attracted to him, but she still absolutely hated him! Wasn't it reasonable that you found someone attractive but still did not like him at all?

"—Umi?"

Umi stared at Taylor, realizing that he had asked her something. She had been too caught up in her thoughts to pay attention to him and now felt slightly guilty. He looked like he was expecting an affirmative or negative answer, and she didn't want to offend him.

"Um, sure."

"That's great! I do have work but I usually leave by seven. I'll come to Quatre-sama's house around then. See you tomorrow night!"

Taylor ran off with a wave before she could reply. She wasn't exactly sure what she had agreed to, but it seemed as if he was coming to Quatre's tomorrow night—for dinner, she assumed. That was strange.

"What are you doing?" a deep voice interrupted her thoughts.

Umi glanced back and raised an eyebrow at Heero's glare, and rolled her eyes, "Don't worry—I explained everything to him. But I can't believe Duo spread a rumor like that!"

Heero ground his teeth together, once again reminded of Duo's antics. He had been annoyed, wondering why she had answered 'yes' to Taylor, but now his anger toward Duo had been rekindled.

Noting his angered expression, Umi realized that he was talking about her inviting Taylor to Quatre's house. She released a nervous chuckle and explained, "Oh, you mean that. It was an accident! I wasn't sure what he had asked, so I just answered 'yes.' I didn't know he wanted to have dinner with Quatre and Relena. What a weird idiot, but I guess he was too shy to ask them himself especially since he's so afraid of you. Besides, I'm sure Quatre won't mind an extra guest. Maybe I should go tell him anyways."

Heero stood there as she quickly dashed off in Quatre's direction. His earlier jealousy dissipated as his lips quirked up in a wicked smile. It seems Umi didn't realize she had accidentally accepted a date with Taylor—imagine her surprise when that "weird idiot" showed up tomorrow expecting to take her out. Well, he'd make sure that didn't happen.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

The story seemed too fluffy, so I tried to put some action in there—unfortunately, I have never attempted to write anything action-related before, so that probably came out horribly. Well, this chapter was really hard to write, and it didn't come out that well anyways. But I couldn't revise it without making it completely different.

Anyhow, I tried to make Heero jealous, but that didn't really work out since my perfect image of Heero includes his never getting jealous. Nevertheless, I will try again when Taylor makes his appearance in the next chapter. I also tried to make Umi oblivious to Taylor's advances, because she's apparently very ignorant in regards to these things.

So after I revised it, I added that little mysterious scene in the front. Those who have read the whole story probably already have an idea as to who are talking. Also, I added a little of the Heaven's Tear and its powers in there, since the jewel disappeared in the last chapter. Anyways, stay tuned to find out just who were talking at the beginning and why someone's sent mobile suits to attack our beloved figureheads again!


	7. Chapter VI: The Assassin

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

* * *

**World 2 World  
Chapter VI: The Assassin**

"Have you seen the library?" Fuu panted as she nearly ran up to the group gathered in the drawing room. "It's magnificently huge—larger than the one at my school!"

"And there's a kendo-house outside!" Hikaru added, clapping her hands in unbridled excitement as she pointed through the glass doors.

"Oh!" Fuu exclaimed as she moved next to the redhead. "An archery field!"

"You promised to teach me archery! Then we can practice kendo after!" Hikaru offered, eyes lighting up at her own plans.

"And we will be able to avoid Umi!" Fuu added as she quickly followed the other girl outside.

Before they could ask Fuu what she meant, Umi strut into the room wearing tight blue shorts and a tank top. Rapier in hand, she elegantly swept the weapon as a challenge to the occupants of the room.

"Are you ready to face defeat?" she challenged, glaring straight at Heero. The others seemed to shrink away from her.

Heero narrowed his eyes and stood up from his seat on the couch, following her out of the room. He was surprised the girl could fence, and she had made an elegant sweep nonetheless. This could prove to be fun.

The rest of the group followed the two into the fencing room, where they dressed in body suits. Heero then moved to the sword stands and picked out a rapier, testing its weight and balance. Satisfied, he walked to the center of the mats where Umi awaited him.

Smirking, Heero pushed the helmet on his head, and Umi followed suit. The two stood in ready position, both watching the other from behind their covers.

Both of them moved at the same time and struck each other, their swords clashing together in defense. Heero, stronger than Umi, pushed her back a little, so she pulled back quickly. Taking the chance, Heero struck at her again, but Umi managed to parry the blow. For the first five minutes, Heero forced her backwards and sideways toward a corner, and all Umi could do was parry and dodge his attacks. When he finally backed her into the corner, Heero aimed at her chest, only to be deflected by Umi's rapier, thus his hit the wall.

"You're holding back," she accused, panting as she kept her sword in front of her. She was more than capable of holding her on, especially in fencing. And she refused to have him dance around her like she was some fragile thing.

Heero smirked, not making much of an effort to release his sword from the wall. "Don't want to hurt your pretty face."

Umi hissed at him and ducked from under his arms. Just as she thrust toward his side from the back, Heero pulled his rapier free and parried her attack. Narrowing her eyes, she pulled back and attacked again, trying to corner him like he did her. However, he simply sidestepped her and swiped at her side. She moved aside, but he managed to swipe a few short strands of her hair.

Umi blinked and tried to stare back at her damaged hair. Shocked that he had managed to harm her—sort of—she glared at him only to see him smirking, a strand of her hair at the end of his sword.

Umi's eyes narrowed in rage as she roared and charged at Heero, feigning to aim for his right side, only to thrust toward his left at the last minute. Heero almost didn't catch her move, but luckily he was able to move his rapier in time, barely deflecting her blow. As she continued to charge, Heero was mildly shocked at her sudden display of skill, and only managed to parry her thrusts. After a few seconds of contemplation, Heero responded and threw in some of his own thrusts while still blocking hers. They continued to thrust and parry at each other, neither backing off nor advancing in their attacks, still testing each other.

Well into the match, Hikaru and Fuu burst through the doors, distracting Umi momentarily into glancing their way. That one second was all Heero needed to swipe Umi's rapier away, knock her to the ground, and point his end of the rapier at her in victory.

"You must never be distracted during a fight," Heero reprimanded, "or it could cost you your life."

Heero withdrew his weapon and offered her a hand, which she grudgingly took. He had to admit, if those two had not barged in, she might have lasted a little longer against him. She was probably the second best fencing partner he'd had, but never better than him. Only one person had ever defeated him in a fencing match.

Hikaru looked at the two in disappointment. "We missed the fight? And Umi lost? Aw."

"I lost!" Umi wailed, the implications finally settling into her mind. "I have _never_ lost! Not once! And now I lost to _him_!"

For dramatic effect, Umi collapsed to her knees and pointed an accusing finger at Heero as if he had just told her that he accidentally ran over her dog. He merely smirked again, causing her to fume at his arrogance. He shouldn't be allowed to gloat, although if she had won, she would have rubbed the fact into his face for the next year.

"Do not worry, Umi-chan," Hikaru chirped. "It's not a real defeat. You were distracted, so you still had a chance to win."

Heero snorted.

Umi glared at him, then promptly threw her rapier at him. However, he simply moved to the side and caught the sword by the handle.

"I demand a rematch!" Umi demanded, hands coming to rest on her hips. She needed to prove that she could defeat him in something. First he proved to be her equal in volleyball, but then he went and bested her in fencing!

Heero removed his helmet and shrugged out of his suit.

"Are you listening to me? I said I want a rematch!"

Heero nodded as she placed the rapier back on its stand. Without another word, he walked to the door with a towel around his neck.

"What kind of reply is that? Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Umi shouted as she quickly stripped and stalked him to the entrance.

"Shower. Did you want to join me?"

Umi gaped at him, face aflame in anger and embarrassment, and mouth opening and closing stupidly. The nerve of him!

"Didn't know you were so kinky."

Heero quickly slammed the door shut behind him and heard something embed itself into the wooden surface followed by a string of curses.

* * *

While the others were out and about the colony in the afternoon, the three magic knights took full advantage of all the recreational activities available in Quatre's house—from the kendo house and archery field to the mini-theatre and the Olympic-sized swimming pool. Nevertheless, they still found time to gather on the patio and talk about the recent events. 

"So you had a dream, Umi-chan?"

"Hikaru-san also had dreams during her time in Cephiro."

"I suppose it could be connected to the Heaven's Tear then," Umi said, turning the jewel between her fingers.

"And it also helped you this morning in fighting those things?"

"Yeah," Umi answered the redhead. "But I wonder why. Maybe those suits were sent by the people that were in my dream."

"But what can we do? We don't even really know this world, so how are we supposed to find the enemy?"

"Well, I'm sure my jewel will help us out, Hikaru."

"Perhaps we were sent here to investigate this enemy?"

"Are you saying Mokona sent us here to fight this enemy, Fuu?"

"I'm not sure if Mokona-san sent us here. But that cat was definitely from Cephiro."

"True," Hikaru replied, frowning. "But we don't have any powers here. How can we fight the enemy?"

"Maybe my jewel sent us here?"

"You mean as part of that test thing, Umi-chan?"

"I guess. Maybe it can give us our powers too."

"Perhaps if you made a wish for your power, Umi-san?"

Umi nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating. After awhile, she opened them.

"I don't feel anything."

"Let me try," Hikaru offered and held out a hand as she mentally conjured her flames. Nothing happened.

"Stupid jewel expects us to fight a Cephiro creature without powers," Umi cursed at the object in her hand.

"Quatre-sama says the Preventers are very capable of dealing with threats."

"I don't think they're equipped to deal with magical cats."

"So pessimistic, Umi-san."

"And since when are _you_ so optimistic?"

"Umi-san, you must learn to relax and enjoy the simple luxuries of life."

Umi stopped her glaring of the jewel and turned to look at her blonde friend. Of course, the wind knight was holding a book, thoroughly entranced by the summary on the back of The Gundam Pilots.

"Fuu, have you been listening to anything in the last five minutes?"

"Of course, Umi-san."

"How can you read and listen at the same time?"

Fuu shrugged and instead said, "You should really read this, Umi-san. Although there's very little information available, it's still very interesting."

Umi sighed and lay her head on her arms, resting on the table. She couldn't believe that Fuu of all people wasn't too worried about all this. She was supposed to be the selfish one that didn't care about what happened, and Fuu was the one who was supposed to be logical and worry about everything.

"The chocolate here tastes different, but better."

Umi stared passively at Hikaru and her box of chocolates. It seems the fire knight was exactly the same though.

* * *

"Sally and Wufei are coming up immediately to help look into the matter," Noin announced as she stabbed at a carrot on her plate. 

"It wouldn't hurt to have extra security, either," Milliardo added.

"Wufei and Sally are coming with the new security system soon," Quatre informed them.

"Until then, I'm sure three ex-Gundam pilots in the house are enough to keep anyone out," Dorothy said, swirling her glass.

"Do we know anything at all yet? The Earth and colonial alliances are starting to point fingers again."

"Nothing yet, Relena," Noin told her future sister-in-law. "We can't even find a single trace of any stray mobile suit units or any shady organizations. It's as if they just appeared out of nowhere."

"We do know for certain that they originate from the colonies according to the information gathered in the attack early this morning," Milliardo continued. "We are not certain which colony, although we don't think it's in L4."

"Heero thinks the new organization might be based in L1," Quatre said.

"Lady Une's already there so she's looking into the matter herself," Milliardo replied. "She'll update us if she finds anything."

"Why not have Heero go investigate as well?" Dorothy questioned as she set her water glass down.

"Lady Une wants him here in case another assassination is attempted, especially since we're not certain who they are targeting," Noin answered.

"Is there anyway to identify the organization?" Fuu chirped in.

"Actually, from the parts we salvaged of the destroyed mobile suits, their symbol seems to be some kind of animal," Noin answered. "We couldn't really tell since the emblem was nearly melted away with the rest of the armor."

"The lab is analyzing all the parts. We'll know if they find any possible matches," Heero finally spoke up.

"Hikaru, you sure eat a lot for such a small girl," Dorothy moved off the subject as she stared at the petite redhead. "I think you'd give Duo a run for his money when it comes to eating."

"She only eats a lot when it's sushi and sashimi," Umi replied, rolling her eyes as Hikaru nodded in agreement after unsuccessfully trying to talk with a stuffed mouth.

"I knew you liked sushi, Hikaru-san, so I asked the chef to especially make a Japanese meal tonight for you," Quatre told them, beaming at the shorter girl.

"Really? Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," Dorothy quickly snapped as she saw that Hikaru was about to crush her boyfriend in a hug.

"How can you eat so much raw seafood and stay so healthy?" Umi moaned as she watched Hikaru stuff another large piece of wasabi-dipped salmon into her mouth.

"It's quite good," Noin said as she picked out a tuna for herself. "You should try some."

"No thanks," Umi shook her head.

"I dare you."

Umi stared as a fair-sized piece of yellowtail landed on her plate. She glanced up at the smirking face of Heero seated across from her. Then she turned her eyes back onto the offending object on her plate. She didn't want to back down from the challenge, but she wasn't one to eat raw food either.

"It tastes very good with wasabi and soy sauce," Hikaru offered, handing her friend a small saucer.

"Fine," Umi conceded as she picked up the fish with her chopsticks. Gulping, she drowned the piece in the wasabi and soy sauce mix and then brought it up to her mouth. Wrinkling her nose and taking a deep breath, Umi closed her eyes and stuffed the raw fish into her mouth. Barely chewing, she immediately swallowed and popped her tear-filled eyes open.

"Can't handle it?" Heero taunted, sipping his glass arrogantly.

"Hikaru, how can you handle so much wasabi?" Umi asked as she grabbed her glass of water and quickly downed it, ignoring the irritating young man across from her.

"It's not that much," Hikaru defended.

"Too much for you?" Heero continued, smirking haughtily.

Umi smiled sweetly, causing his smirk to falter slightly. The next moment, she stomped her heels on his shoes—hard. Heero pulled his foot away, wincing slightly with pain but still able to keep a steady glare on the smirking girl before him. Growling mentally, he picked up his uninjured foot and kicked softly but hard enough to elicit a yelp from his attacker.

"Umi! Are you all right?" Quatre asked as he glanced at the grimacing girl.

"Fine," Umi replied as she bent down to rub her sore calf.

"That wasn't very nice of you, Heero," Quatre reprimanded as he shook his head at his comrade.

Dorothy's face broke into a sinister grin. "I would have expected more of you, Heero-kun—such display of immaturity. I think Duo's rubbing off on you."

* * *

Umi snuggled into the blue satin sheets, smiling languidly at the comfort. Finally, after less than five hours of sleep within the last 48 hours, she could get her much needed rest. Sighing satisfactorily, her eyelids drifted shut as she felt the clouds of sleep envelop her mind. 

"Umi-chan?"

Umi scrunched her face up as she heard a distant calling of her name. She ignored it, but then something pulsed in the back of her mind and she grudgingly brought herself out of her slumber.

"Umi-chan."

Umi groaned inwardly and pried her eyes open. Rubbing her squinting eyes, she looked towards her slightly open door to see Hikaru poking her head in.

"Yes, Hikaru?"

"I can't sleep."

Umi sighed and wanted to just tell the girl to go bother Fuu. Instead, she pushed herself up and motioned for her friend to come. Hikaru happily obliged and crept in, situating herself on the foot of Umi's bed.

"What's wrong, Hikaru? Are you not comfortable? Homesick? Nightmares?"

"I have a bad feeling."

Umi immediately woke up, knowing that Hikaru's instincts for danger have never been wrong. She glanced at her dresser and her eyes caught the slightly glowing Heaven's Tear. Picking the jewel up, she held it up for Hikaru to see.

"Do you think it has something to do with that cat? Maybe the attack today?"

"I'm not sure, Umi-chan. But I feel as if we're not alone."

"Well, we are in a house with many other people."

"No, it feels more like an intruder."

"Are you saying someone managed to break in?"

"I'm not sure," Hikaru whispered, hands clutching at the sheets. "I'm sorry."

Umi shook her head and gave the smaller girl a reassuring smile. "There's nothing for you to be sorry for. Come now, let's wake Fuu—she'll know what to do."

The got off the bed and headed quietly towards the door. As Umi opened the door, she saw somebody pressed up against the now-empty space. The figure, dressed in black from head to toe, looked surprised at his sudden loss of balance. But he quickly steadied himself and jumped back when the two girls released out blood-curling screams. Panicking, the figure reached behind his back and brought forth a gun, pointing it at the frightened girls.

Before any of the three could process what happened, Umi's hand instinctively reached out and swatted the attacker's hand up, knocking the gun away and releasing a stray bullet into the ceiling. As he fell on both knees in an effort to retrieve his weapon, Hikaru pounced on the assailant and grasped his arm, only to bite down as he tried to pry her off. The attacker hissed and quickly reached his other hand down to his leg, but Umi reacted and stepped on his fingers.

The mysterious reached out his injured fingers and managed to seize a fistful of blue hair, tugging Umi towards him and drawing a cry of pain from the girl. Drops of blood splattered onto her face and she gasped in shock as the man released his grip, dropping to the ground.

"Umi! Hikaru!"

Umi panted as she tried to wipe away the blood smeared across her face, vaguely aware of someone calling to her and the kneeling girl next to her. Hikaru stared in shock at the dead body before them, unaware of the blood splattered across her pajamas.

"Heero!" Noin reprimanded as she and the others approached the two girls. "You should not have done that!"

"You're bleeding!" Quatre exclaimed as he knelt between the two.

"It's not their blood," Heero answered as he knelt beside them, examining the dead man. He reached out and pulled the bloody mask off.

"Who is that?" Milliardo asked as he stood behind them, trying to shield his sister from the sight.

"Probably a hired assassin," Quatre answered, still trying to check the girls for injuries despite Umi's continuous swatting away his hands.

"He's using an M-24," Heero reported as he nodded at the weapon next to the man's hand. "Only twenty-four of these were produced in the last year. We should be able to trace it, then find out who hired the assassin."

"I don't understand how he got past security," Noin inquired, frowning.

"Only those in the household and a select number of the Preventers know any of the access codes," Quatre told them.

"Then we have a mole," Milliardo concluded, already walking away with a communicator in hand. "I'll inform Lady Une immediately."

"Hikaru-san! Umi-san! Are you two all right?" Fuu cried as she ran up to them, Dorothy right behind her.

"We're fine, Fuu," Umi replied as she slowly stood up, glancing down at her blood-stained night gown.

"Did you do this, Hikaru?"

Hikaru looked down at the bloodied arm Quatre was examining.

"I think I did. I'm sorry."

Quatre shook his head with a smile. "Don't be sorry, Hikaru-san. You did very well in defending yourself."

Hikaru sighed and averted her attention from the corpse. Umi glanced at Fuu, feeling sorry for the young girl for having to go through yet another experience such as this.

"Now we know that someone is most certainly after Relena or Quatre," Noin deducted. "We need to heighten the security around the two."

"Must be from the same organization that sent the mobile suits," Dorothy added.

"Heero, please reprogram the security system as you see fit," Quatre informed his friend.

Heero gave him a curt nod, but never taking his eyes off the body. He had a feeling that he should know something, but he couldn't focus on what exactly his mind was trying to tell him. But the dull pulsing soon faded and he pushed the thought away to dissect at another time—when he wasn't so tired.

* * *

_"He was discovered and disposed of."_

"I know."

A figure sat in a dark room illuminated only by two candles at the corners and the small screen on the desk.

_"What?"_

"He was not supposed to succeed."

_"Then what should I do?"_

"Nothing. Stay in your position until I inform you otherwise."

_"As you command."_

"Dismissed."

The officer on the screen saluted and the screen dimmed, shrouding the room in darkness. A small shadow appeared on the desk next to the figure sitting in the chair.

**What a waste of such an asset.**

"Hn."

**Very well.**

"I wonder if he still remembers me. Does he think about me as much as I think about him?"

**What do you wish to do?**

"Make him suffer. Hurt him like how he hurt me."

**Then what is your next move?**

"I think I'll help refresh his memory a little."

The figure smirked, gazing at the outline of a flower in a thin vase on the desk. Slender fingers reached out to brush the yellow petals in a loving gesture.

"I will make sure that you never forget me."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

The plot thickens—another assassination attempt and another dialogue by these mysterious characters. Who can they be? Who are they after? Why are they trying to disrupt the peace yet again? And next time, when Taylor reappears, how does Heero handle the competition?

No fluff in this chapter. A short and not so well-written fencing scene in the beginning (must ask my good friend more about fencing—maybe I'll have her rewrite the scene for me). Perhaps if I ever get over my laziness, I shall go learn fencing and come back to rewrite that part. Hehe.

After rewriting this chapter, I'd say it's much better—not as much useless stuff. Confused at the end? I was. I'm not sure how it turned into that, but still, much better than before. I applaud myself. Kidding. Anyways, hope you enjoyed a non-fluffy chapter!


	8. Chapter VII: The Change

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

* * *

**World 2 World  
Chapter VII: The Change**

"Morning," Umi greeted the small group gathered on the patio, suppressing a yawn. "Where is everyone?"

Noin waved to her and replied, "Quatre's giving your friends a tour of the library."

"Hikaru willingly went along to the library?" Umi pondered as she spread butter on her toast.

"Actually, she was more interested in our dogs," Dorothy explained, stabbing at the fruits on her plate. "The dogs usually follow Quatre around whenever he's here, and now Hikaru's following him around like a puppy."

Umi grinned at the blonde's resentment and opened to reply, but a large yawn escaped her mouth and she blushed in embarrassment.

Dorothy smirked and poured her a mug of coffee. "Tired?"

"Thanks," Umi answered with a nod as she took the offered drink, inhaling the strong aroma in pleasure. "I don't usually drink coffee without lots of sugar and cream, but I think I'll make an exception this time."

"It was a rough night," Noin agreed as she watched Umi scrunch up her face at the bitterness. "I normally wake up much earlier than this."

"I'm not much of a morning person, but I usually manage to wake up early enough," Umi said, still trying to adjust to the taste of plain black coffee. "So is everything okay now?"

"More or less," Dorothy sighed. "But I'm still surprised he managed to pass the security. It had to be someone from the Preventers. I should bring them all in for an interrogation."

Umi gulped at the sinister look crossing the other's face, mentally noting that this was not a lady to mess with.

"Fortunately Heero was here," Relena said, smiling at the thought of her savior.

Umi winced at the reminder of the blood splattering across her face, the feel of the thick liquid staining her smooth face. She noticed how they all seemed fairly detached from the assassin's death, not even caring about the death of another human being. Not that she wanted the assassin to be alive for another chance to kill her, but she personally knew that only first-hand experience with numerous deaths could cause anyone to be so detached. She wondered if these young men and woman had seen as much death and destruction as she and the other knights, suddenly feeling as if someone else understood the guilt and pain she constantly carried within her heart.

"Umi-san!"

Umi snapped out of her thoughts at the bubbly voice of her blonde friend. Fuu bounded into the room, hands clasped together and eyes sparkling with excitement. Umi narrowed her eyes at the blonde suspiciously, wondering why Fuu was exhibiting Hikaru-like traits.

"Yes, Fuu?" Umi replied cautiously.

"Quatre-san just showed me his library!"

"That's nice, Fuu. But didn't you already see the library yesterday?"

Fuu nodded her head. "That was only _one_ room! There are _five_ other rooms!"

"Impressive," Umi said, genuinely surprised. "That one room was already the largest library I've ever seen."

"Quatre's a bit of a bookworm, I'm afraid. He's read all the books in his library already. Actually, he's planning to add another room to that wing so as to add to his immense collection of books," Dorothy said as she examined her finely manicured French-tipped nails. "However, I still say we need a virtual battle arena."

"Eh? Fuu disappeared." Umi looked around in confusion.

"Probably back into the library with Quatre," Dorothy said, resentment dripping back into her voice.

"Do you have a garden?" Umi asked hoping to move onto another subject, not wanting for Dorothy to hold a grudge against the other two knights.

"That way and turn the corner," Dorothy directed, pointing a slender finger down a path. "Careful though—the garden's a maze."

"I'm sure it's not that confusing," Umi said as she stuffed the last bit of toast into her mouth and stood up.

"No, I mean it's literally a maze."

"That's cool!" Umi exclaimed, deciding she was in the mood for a challenge.

Dorothy snorted. "Even I haven't figured out that stupid maze. Stupid Quatre and his intellectual ways of decoration."

* * *

"You're losing your touch, Zechs," Heero said as he dodged yet another series of punches and kicks. 

"No one trains daily like you," Milliardo snapped, panting as sweat dripped down his forehead.

"I do not train daily," Heero retorted, looking for an opening. "Weekly."

Milliardo snorted. "Sure."

"You're getting old," Heero said as he grabbed Milliardo's swiping hand and flipped the older man onto his back. The blonde kicked with a leg but Heero released the arm and moved back with a smirk.

"I'll still be as good a fighter when I _am_ old as Bob Hope is a comic in the latter part of his life."

"Hn. Even Duo's funnier than Bob Hope."

"How dare you insult a legend! He may be old and deceased, but he was an incredible comic! Don't you dare compare him to the likes of Maxwell!"

Heero blinked as Milliardo charged at him like an angry bull. He had not known that then was a Bob Hope fan, and he was joking anyways. At least now they were getting somewhere in this sparring session.

* * *

Umi squinted through the tall shrubbery, trying to see the other side. This green wall looked familiar, but then all the walls looked the same, so she couldn't be sure. Groaning in frustration, she decided to keep walking to the right in hopes of finding an exit—hopefully there was more than one so the greater her chances of getting out of this maze. 

Hearing the sound of running water, Umi frowned and jogged to an opening, only to enter a square clearing of roses and a fountain. Umi sighed as she realized she reached the center of the maze rather than the exterior. Tired from walking for nearly an hour, Umi moved to sit down at the edge of the fountain and glanced up at the three water-spouting dolphins. The fountain was very beautiful as was the surrounding mini-garden, so she decided to enjoy the quiet.

After a few minutes, Umi finally noticed that the sun was unbearably hot, strange considering it was the middle of winter. Then she remembered Fuu reciting from one of the books in the library that the colonies had artificial weather conditions—it was just her luck that this colony decided it was the middle of summer.

"I want to get out of here," Umi whined to her reflection in the water.

"Then get off your lazy butt and start walking," a deep voice replied from behind her.

With a startled yelp, Umi whipped around to see Heero leaning on one of the shrub walls. Seeing his smirk, she turned her nose up at him and spun back around, her back to him.

"Easy for _you_ to say. I don't—" She cut herself off as she didn't want him to know that she was lost. Although Dorothy did say even had yet to successfully come out of the maze, Umi was loathe to admit to Heero any kind of weakness.

"You don't?" Heero echoed, an amused smirk gracing his features. He knew she was lost because only Quatre and himself knew how to get out of this maze.

"I don't…want to be anywhere near you," Umi replied helplessly, still refusing to turn around. "Seeing as you were in the house, I decided to come out here. But now that you are here, I think I will leave."

Too late the words were out of her mouth before she realized that she dug herself into a deeper hole. Not only did it not make sense with what she had stated before, but now she had to get out even though she didn't know how. Huffing dramatically, she walked for the nearest opening in the walls.

"Well, if you're leaving, at least go the right way."

Umi froze in mid-step. She could _hear_ the smirk on his face and she whirled around only to find him a few paces in front of her. Glaring up at his taller form, she stalked up to him and jabbed a finger at his chest.

"Excuse _me_, Mr. High and Mighty. No need for you to act so tough and arrogant just because you saved the world."

Umi recalled glancing over Fuu's shoulder to read the book on the Gundam pilots. She was surprised that five young men also went through the experience of war, much similar to the magic knight themselves.

"Don't presume to know what I or any of the others underwent during the war," Heero hissed, his face darkening.

Slightly taken aback by the sudden change in his demeanor, Umi recomposed herself and retorted, "You're so self-centered. You think that you were the only one who truly suffered during the war, that what others went through was not as bad compared to your own experiences."

Heero was offended. "I don't—"

"Don't deny it," Umi interrupted him. "You may not show it, but you mentally look down at others who say they suffered during the fighting. But if you actually took the time to care, you would see that someone who wasn't directly involved in the fighting might have suffered more than you."

Feeling her mind reeling at her words, Umi quickly turned away and moved toward the opening that Heero had come from. But before she turned behind the wall, she stopped and looked down at the floor, feeling his anger fade away to be replaced by guilty awareness.

"I guess you and I aren't so different after all."

Heero glanced up from staring at his tightly clenched fists, only to catch the ends of her blue hair disappear. He was even more surprised by her last statement, not certain of what she meant. But the rest of her rant had caused him to look inside and he had realized that what she had said was true. He never noticed or showed it, but subconsciously he had thought that no one could have suffered as much as he because of the war.

Frowning, Heero stared at the opening in which Umi had disappeared into. She was either incredibly perceptive, or she understood from experience. As much as she annoyed him, he felt his heart ache at the thought of her suffering in the war because of the stupidity of other people. People like himself.

* * *

Umi laughed as one of Quatre's Labradors jumped into the pool right beside Hikaru, causing the shorter girl to giggle and move away. Hikaru had convinced Quatre to join her in the water, but Umi and Dorothy refused and were basking the sun. 

Hikaru grinned as retrieved the ball from inside the dog's mouth and threw it next to Quatre. The second Labrador, who had been enjoying Umi's scratching of his ears, dashed away and into the pool next to Quatre. Hikaru somehow produced another plastic toy and threw it at the sputtering Quatre, who dodged and tried to swim away as Hikaru and the dogs chased after him.

"How sad," Dorothy commented as she turned to lie on her stomach.

"Huh?"

"They're acting like five-year olds."

Umi laughed again. "As long as they enjoy themselves. They deserve to be happy and take advantage of the few luxuries afforded in this world."

"My, aren't we the optimistic psychologist."

"Don't you want Quatre to be happy?"

"Of course I do," Dorothy defended.

"Aren't you happy?" Umi inquired, taking a venture at what was bothering the blonde.

"Of course I am. I mean, why wouldn't I be? There's no more wars, I've got a cute devoted boyfriend, lots of great friends, a well-paying job—it's every woman's dream."

"So then why do you not allow yourself to enjoy life?"

"I—"

Umi waited patiently as the other girl paused, hesitating in telling a complete stranger her innermost feelings. Umi understood as she wouldn't just want to spill herself out to a random person she's only know for a few days.

"I'm afraid," Dorothy whispered, watching Quatre and Hikaru splashing each other. "I'm afraid that it will all be taken away from me, like the rest of my family. I'm afraid that Quatre will realize he doesn't want to be tied down by me and find somebody more fun and smart—someone better."

"We all feel that way," Umi replied, smiling sadly. "But I've learned that it doesn't help to feel sad when you have such great people who care so much about you around—you'll only ruin their happiness by feeling sorry for yourself. And you're lucky you have Quatre—he's with you because he loves you and doesn't want anyone else."

Dorothy turned her head to look at the girl beside, noticing the other's eyes brimming with tears. She heard the pain and sorrow in Umi's voice, and couldn't help but wonder what kind of heartache this girl had experienced.

"Besides, he fought so hard so others can be happy. The least you could do in return is _be_ happy. Just be content that you have him by your side."

Umi wiped her eyes and smiled at Dorothy, who nodded and smiled as well.

"You're right," Dorothy replied. "I didn't expect you to be so understanding."

"If you told me I'd be giving out psychological advice two years ago, I'd call you crazy. I was the most self-centered and spoiled brat. But things happen and things change."

"Well, you still seem a little self-centered and spoiled to me."

Umi grinned and rolled her eyes. As she was about to retort, Dorothy suddenly stood up and grabbed Umi's arm. Before Umi could process the blonde's actions or protest, Dorothy had managed to drag the water knight to the edge of the pool and ungracefully pushed her in.

Sputtering, Umi glared up at the laughing young woman and growled, "That was so not funny!"

"Sure it was," Dorothy managed between her bouts of laughter.

"Well, it wasn't very nice," Umi muttered as she swam to the edge.

"Well, I enjoyed myself."

* * *

Heero walked down the stairs, glancing as someone banged on the door and continuously rang the bell. Seeing that Quatre's butler was obviously too busy to answer it, Heero made his way to the door and unlocked it. Pulling it back, he found Umi's date standing in a tux with his hand poised to knock on the door. 

Eyes wide, the blonde man gulped and quickly saluted, "Uh, General Yuy! Sir."

"Taylor," Heero acknowledged, staring the other man down.

"I—uh—that is—I'm, well," Taylor fumbled over his words, intimidated by his superior despite the fact that Heero was two years younger.

"I don't believe you have a shift tonight," Heero interrupted as he smirked inwardly. "But if you were reporting for duty, your uniform would be a more appropriate attire."

"I'm not, uh, reporting for duty. Sir," Taylor added as an afterthought.

"Then why are you still addressing me as 'sir'?"

"Well, sir, I mean Heero, I mean Yuy-sama, uh," Taylor stuttered, not sure how to explain his situation without angering the ex-Gundam pilot.

"Stop standing in the doorway and get your butt into the dining room," a feminine voice called from behind Heero. "Why are you holding the door open anyways?"

"Nothing of your concern," Heero replied, glaring at Taylor who was trying to see over his shoulder.

"Actually Taylor should be here soon, and you'll scare him away if you keep standing there," came the reply, although the voice was now closer to the two men.

"Really," Heero said monotonously. He was thoroughly amused messing with Taylor, but that girl had to come and ruin his fun.

"Yes, now move before—you're here, Taylor!" Umi said in surprised as she peered from behind Heero.

"I, ahem, yes I am, Umi," Taylor answered nervously, darting glances at Heero.

"Come on in," she invited, shoving Heero to the side. "I hope this idiot here hasn't given you any trouble."

Seeing Heero's cold look, Taylor quickly replied, "No, no—of course not."

"Taylor-san," Quatre greeted as he walked into the foyer. "I'm glad you could join us for dinner."

"Uh, I'm sorry?" Taylor glanced at the three in confusion, failing to notice the amusement in Heero's eyes.

"It's not a problem at all," Quatre said with a smile. "We're always glad to have more people in the house."

"You didn't really need to dress so formally," Umi noted, giggling.

"Well, I—"

"It's quite all right," Quatre waved him off. "Follow me and I'll show you where you can hang your jacket."

Taylor, intimidated by the presence of two ex-Gundam pilots, gave Umi a confused smile and followed Quatre. Umi, however, noticed the smirk on Heero's face and turned to raise an eyebrow at him.

"What's so amusing?"

"You."

Umi pouted. "And why is that?"

"You honestly don't know?"

Umi sighed in frustration. "Know what?"

"He asked you out on a date yesterday morning."

"He asked me—what? Oh, shut up."

Heero glared at her. How dare she tell him to shut up?

"Why would he want to ask _me_ out on a date? That was good though, Heero. You almost got me."

"Don't think so little of yourself."

"I don't—was that a compliment?"

Heero ignored her and followed Quatre's path.

"That was! You just complimented me," Umi teased as she skipped alongside him, already forgetting what he had said earlier. For some reason, she felt happy that he found her somewhat attractive, although those weren't his exact words.

"Don't flatter yourself."

Umi merely grinned as she clasped her hands behind her back. She didn't need to—he already did it for her.

* * *

Umi sat on the couch, staring listlessly at the crackling fire before her. Taylor was still blabbing on beside her, slightly intoxicated and praising himself incessantly. Sighing, Umi glanced at the clock to see that it was already midnight. 

"Taylor," Umi interrupted, not even bothering to look at him. She had been trying to be polite all night, merely nodding and smiling as he talked, but she could not take another minute less she strangle him.

"Umiiii," Taylor replied, giggling as he tried out her name.

Umi grit her teeth and took a breath, calmly saying, "It's getting late."

"Oh?" Taylor squinted at the clock. "It's only…twelve minutes."

"No," Umi said as she bit back her frustration, "it's midnight. And I think you should go sleep now. Quatre offered you a spare room."

"But I don't wanna," Taylor pouted as he leaned over and grasped Umi around the waist.

"Look," Umi began as she tried to pry his hands off of her—he was surprisingly strong considering he was drunk. "I'm tired and I want to sleep. Besides, you have work early tomorrow morning."

"S'okay," Taylor answered as he tried to kiss her.

"Taylor, stop it!" Umi hissed, not wanting to wake up the rest of the household, knowing that the politicians had an early meeting.

However, Taylor didn't take heed and instead moved his mouth to her neck, trailing sloppy kisses down her throat despite her pushing. Umi growled and kneed him in the stomach. But he only winced a little before roughly grabbing her arms and pinning her to the couch. Umi snarled and prepared to kick him further south, but he was suddenly pulled up and away from her. Blinking, Umi saw Heero's angry dark blue—almost violet—eyes and watched as he flung Taylor onto the floor.

"Wha?" Taylor mumbled as he sat up, trying to focus on whoever attacked him. Narrowing his eyes at his attacker, Taylor tried to stand up while muttering profanities.

As Taylor sloppily swung an arm, Heero dodged to the side and grabbed his arm, flipping him over onto the floor. Taylor groaned and got on all fours, wincing at the pain from his headache and from being thrown onto the floor.

Heero grabbed him by the collar and threw him harshly against the wall, ready to pound the other man into pieces. However, small hands gripped his arm, and through his angered eyes Heero stared down into the concerned blue eyes of the young girl he was trying to protect.

"No," Umi whispered softly, shaking her head and asking with her eyes for Heero to drop the other man.

Relenting, although reluctantly, Heero released his grip and Taylor slid to the floor unconscious. Heero turned to glance at Umi, searching her eyes in question, wondering why she didn't allow him to simply beat Taylor—the dishonorable bastard deserved it.

"People do stupid things," Umi explained, understanding the question in his eyes.

"And they should be punished for it," Heero grumbled angrily. However, his anger dissipated when Umi smiled and reached for his hands, placing them between her own.

"Sometimes, you should give them another chance."

Heero frowned, but her soft eyes held such faith and her warm hands felt so safe that he could only nod. As she released his hands, he turned to Taylor and picked up the unconscious man, swinging him over the shoulder.

"I'll take him to a spare room," Heero informed the girl. "You should get some sleep."

Umi chuckled. "I think I'll come with you. You'll probably handle him too roughly and he'll wake up with bruises all over."

"Serves him right," Heero muttered as they walked out of the room.

Umi shook her head but moved by his side, fingers reaching out to grasp his free hand. Her other arm came up encircling around his free arm and she leaned into him.

Despite the burden of carrying a man on his right shoulder, Heero found that he didn't have the heart to tell Umi to stop leaning into his left. Because he liked it.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I wrote this chapter right after Bob Hope passed away—I wanted to make a small memorial to him. I'm sorry if it sounded offensive the way Heero made fun of him, but at Milliardo defended him!Anyways, I attempted an understanding and sweet Umi. Anyone catch that she had her own pains? Hm. I wonder what happened with her.

After revising this, I took out the jealous Heero as that part seemed long and pointless. But I kept the drunk Taylor in there, because Taylor's an idiot. Should have let Heero beat him up, but Umi had to make a point so he couldn't. Shame. Oh well, Heero will have his chance later. Hehe.

I don't like the title, but I can't think of what else to call this chapter. This was basically a chapter to reveal some things, such as Umi's past pains in love and Heero's subconscious thoughts, plus Umi picking Heero's brain. So basically, they've come to some realizations of how they've each changed over the years. Well, if you have any better ideas, let me know. Thanks!


	9. Chapter VIII: The Revelation

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

* * *

**World 2 World  
Chapter VIII: The Revelation**

"For all we know, the mobile dolls came from Earth and you are just trying to frame us!"

"How dare you insinuate that we would do something like that? All the evidence points to the colonies!"

"Gentlemen, please," Relena began, standing up and staring down hard at the delegates. "Let us discuss this issue as mature adults and not make any unnecessary accusations. The mobile dolls were most likely sent by terrorists trying to disrupt the peace we have fought so hard to protect and preserve. And they seem to be succeeding."

Seeing that Relena had the conference back under control, Heero relaxed from his tense position and leaned back into the shadows. His mind wondered to last night, how he and Umi sat up and talked early into the morning. He told her, a young girl he'd known for a few days, so much about his past. He recalled how he felt stupid and weak for revealing so much, and he had told her so. And even now, he could remember the exact words of her reply.

_"Trust is not a weakness, but rather a strength. If you close yourself from others and never trust anyone, then your enemy has won—you cannot be so fearful of your enemy that you do not allow yourself to ever trust or love. It takes great strength to be able to trust another human being."_

Heero found much truth in her words—of course he didn't tell her that. Fortunately she had sensed that he didn't want to continue the topic of conversation, so she began talking about herself. He seemed to recall her talking about some boy called Ascot who she looked upon like a little brother, although from her accounts, Heero doubted the boy saw her in the same light. But even more disturbing was that she mentioned someone else, an older man, and it seemed like she wanted to avoid that topic altogether because she immediately changed the subject when she realized what she was saying. Heero wanted to know more about this man who she seemed to have feelings for, but he also didn't want to pry or it might seem as if he cared too much. Not that he cared for her at all.

"Heero!"

Heero snapped out of his thoughts to see Relena standing in front of him, a concerned look on her face. He glanced around the room to notice that all the other delegates and guards had left. He frowned inwardly at having been so distracted by thoughts of that blue-haired girl.

"What?"

"I asked if you wanted to grab some lunch before we head back to Quatre's."

"No."

Heero wanted to sleep and hopefully rid his mind of such trivial matters. After all, he had a threat to deal with and he needed to be in good physical and mental health if he wanted to solve this problem.

* * *

"No."

Dorothy stared incredulously at the man in front of her.

"Excuse me? Did you just say no?"

Heero merely stared at the short blonde woman. He had just returned from a four-hour conference where supposedly mature politicians screamed at each other like tantrum-throwing toddlers, and all he wanted was to sleep for a few hours.

"I gave you a mission and you declined?"

Heero glared at her in annoyance.

"But that means you'll _fail_ the mission."

"There is no mission."

Heero crossed his arms in defiance. Only Lady Une could assign him missions.

"Actually, as of a few minutes ago, you were assigned as our protective detail."

Heero narrowed his eyes. He was not informed of this.

"It's true. You can ask Quatre."

Heero continued to glare at her suspiciously.

"Since Relena has enough protection from Zechs and Noin, you are technically assigned to the girls. After all, they'll need a strong man like yourself to watch their backs."

Heero's eye twitched as he suppressed the urge to punch his friend's girlfriend.

"I doubt you'd want to trail after Quatre and I—although I wouldn't mind another man to carry my things."

Heero glowered at her. Like hell he would want to carry all her stuff for her.

"Or did you want to be with Relena? That can be arranged as well."

Heero growled, causing Dorothy to laugh at his dilemma.

"Then it's settled. You'll be with our three guests when we split up at the mall."

* * *

Heero wanted to groan at all the weight on his arms. He silently cursed Umi for encouraging Fuu to purchase all those heavy gadgets. He wondered how much money these girls had, as many of their purchases were quite expensive. But that thought quickly disappeared as Umi jerked his arm, causing him to nearly trip as he tried to readjust the weight of the bags and boxes.

"Hey! Let's go in here!"

Heero glanced around the boxes to stare at a lingerie store. He then turned his head to stare at the girl next to him.

"You want me to pick something out for you?"

"No! I just—shut up and go!"

Heero smirked even as she pushed him into the store. He knew Umi was trying to embarrass him, but obviously she didn't know that he did not embarrass—at all.

After spending a long hour in there as Umi and Hikaru laughed at Fuu's shyness, and convincing her to purchase some things that Ferio would like, they finally headed to meet up with the others for dinner.

"For a guy, you have pretty good taste in women's underwear," Umi commented as she suggestively nudged Heero in the ribs.

Heero rolled his eyes and chose to ignore her.

"He likes what Lantis likes!" Hikaru added, grinning widely. "Next time I want to buy Lantis a gift, I'll just ask Heero-kun!"

"Come to think of it, the two are quite similar," Fuu said thoughtfully. "I'm sure they would get along very well."

"I don't know about that," Umi countered. "Unless you consider silence good conversation."

"Technically, silence cannot be good conversation as silence implies that there is no conversation."

"Thank you, Fuu."

"You're welcome, Umi-san."

Suddenly, Heero dropped everything in his arms and dove towards Umi, knocking her roughly into the ground. A split second later, a loud gunshot exploded in the air and everyone around them ducked, screaming. Heero quickly leapt to his feet and took off after a running man, leaving Hikaru and Fuu to crawl to Umi in alarm.

"Umi-chan! Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, thanks. Are you two alright?"

"Yes, we're fine," Fuu answered as she checked herself over.

"What happened?" Umi asked, glancing around in fear.

"Someone tried to kill you," Hikaru answered as she pointed to a hole in the wall behind where Umi had stood before.

Umi's eyes widened and she gasped, one hand coming to rest above her rapidly beating heart. Why would anyone want to kill her? Surely they couldn't have mistaken her for Relena.

"Why would anyone want to harm Umi-san? We are not even of this world," Fuu said the last part in a low voice.

"Maybe it has something to do with that creature we saw in the vision," Hikaru whispered back, standing up and glancing around suspiciously.

"Then why did the Heaven's Tear not react?" Fuu questioned as she glanced at Umi.

"Well, I kind of left it at the jeweler's," Umi replied sheepishly. At the girls' confused expressions, she explained, "I wanted to put it on a chain, for a necklace."

"Are you girls alright?"

The three nodded as Noin ran up to them, gun in hand and Relena right next to her.

"Heero's apprehended the shooter," Dorothy informed them as she also ran up to the group, motioning for them to follow.

* * *

"Who sent you?"

The man, clutching his injured ankle, simply glared at Heero. Heero narrowed his eyes and aimed his gun at the man's knee.

"I will not repeat myself."

But the man persisted in keeping silent, choosing to glare at the three men gathered around him. Annoyed, Heero pulled the trigger, wounding the man's other knee. With a cry of pain, the man curled into a fetal position on the ground and began cursing.

"Heero! We need him alive if we want to know anything!" Quatre exclaimed, staring at the man on the floor in concern.

Heero ignored the blonde's protests and this time aimed his gun at the man's head.

"Last chance."

The man chuckled, although the sound was slightly hindered by his pained breaths. Heero narrowed his eyes and wondered if perhaps this man was possibly crazier than himself.

"You will meet our leader soon enough."

"What do you mean by that?" Milliardo demanded, noticing the girls running up to them.

"A message for you, Heero Yuy."

Heero continued to glare at the fallen man, but he was curious as to why there would be a message for him. It would probably explain why the organization was after Umi rather than Relena or Quatre.

"_The Heavens, they cry for us, as if they had long since predicted our tragic fate. Perhaps we are not meant to find happiness in this world._"

Heero's eyes widened a millimeter, his heart beginning to beat faster.

"What does that—"

Before Milliardo could finish his question, a red glow enveloped the man's throat and his face reddened as if he were chocking, his fingers clawing to remove the red light. After a few seconds, his entire body slackened and his struggles stopped. Milliardo bent down cautiously once the glow faded and placed his fingers on the man's neck.

"He's dead."

"What was that red glow?" Noin inquired, staring down fearfully. "You don't think we are up against a biological weapon?"

"I'm not sure," Milliardo admitted, shaking his head.

"I'll inform the Preventers," Quatre said after a few moments of uneasy silence.

"Did you see that? Did you _feel_ that?" Hikaru whispered fervently to the other two knights.

"The same aura as that creature," Fuu affirmed. "They must know about the Heaven's Tear. That is why they tried to attack Umi-san."

However, Umi was not paying attention to their conversation—her attention was focused on Heero, who looked as stoic as ever. However, she could see the spark of shock, anxiety, and slight fear in his eyes.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Not the best chapter—not much action or movement. But that's probably due to my new obsession for UmixClef stories. That will pass soon, as do most of my obsessions. Anyways, the point of this chapter is to reveal a connection between the leader of the terrorist organization and Heero, although some of you might not have caught that. Otherwise, this was just another filler to lead up to the next chapter.

After revising this, I combined the original chapter VIII and IX, because I realized both were pretty much pointless fillers and could be shortened. So now it's a little better because there's less useless stuff and a little more revelations (hence the title), although fairly short. Not as good as some of the previous chapters, but it's necessary.

As always, please review and maybe drop a few ideas. I could always use some help in improving my writing and creativity. Thank you!


	10. Chapter IX: The Rain

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and CLAMP, respectively.

* * *

**World 2 World  
Chapter IX: The Rain**

_"Heero-kun!" _

_A girl with dark blonde hair ran across the park, a bouquet of lilies in her hand. A brown-haired boy, sitting atop a branch of the large tree in the middle of the park, opened his eyes and turned his Prussian orbs downward. _

_"Heero-kun!" _

_The little girl panted as she came to a stop at the base of the tree. Turning light blue eyes upward, she smiled at the young boy. _

_"Heero-kun, look what I got!" she announced as she held up her white flowers for him to see. "Some nannies in black and white dresses came today and gave them to me because they said I was as pretty and innocent as these flowers."_

_Heero jumped down from his perch, landing gracefully on the grass. _

_"You mean nuns?"_

_She scrunched up her face and stuck her tongue out. _

_"Whatever! That flower's still alive?" she asked as she looked down at the yellow daisy in his hand._

_"It's not the same one—the original withered away long time ago. But the last time I visited, Mary got really angry because she thought I threw it away."_

_"So that's why she was so mad that day!"_

_"I don't want to face another one of her tantrums."_

_The girl frowned, crossing her arms and pouting, "It's not as if she's that annoying when she's mad. She just refuses to talk to anyone. It's not as if she could do anything anyways—she's stuck in a bed, so what harm could she do?" _

_Heero winced slightly at the thought. But then he smirked and teased, "Jealous?"_

_She glared at him, trying to look intimidating even though she was a head shorter than him. _

_"You wish." _

_However, she looked away, arms still crossed and eyes narrowed._

_"You're so temperamental," he continued. Receiving silence as a response, he sighed and grabbed her hand. _

_"Hey!" she protested, shifting the weight of the lilies onto her other arm. "What do you think you're doing?"_

_"Today's the last day of the carnival," he said, pulling her along with him. "Let's go."_

_"But won't Dr. J be mad? You said you could only visit for a few minutes today because he wanted you to be back for some more training."_

_"So?"_

_"So? You can't do anything at a carnival in a few minutes! The lines for the rides are a few minutes long! Wait, the line to get tickets into the carnival is a few minutes long!"_

_Heero shrugged. "Dr. J can wait."_

_"But won't he find out about what you've been doing? About me?"_

_"I'll just tell him I was blending in with the crowd. After all, it's integral to any mission to not be noticed by the enemy."_

_She looked up at him, cheeks tinted slightly. Looking down at the bouquet in her arm, she tugged on his hand, pulling him to a stop._

_"What is it?" Heero asked in concern, eyebrows furrowed._

_"Um…" she muttered, looking down and shuffling her feet._

_"The carnival isn't going to wait for you, you know."_

_"I know!" she snapped, glaring at the smirking boy. "I just wanted to…well, here!"_

_She shoved the bouquet of lilies into his arms._

_"If you wanted me to carry these for you, you could have just asked."_

_"Stupid, I'm giving them to you!" she growled, still not looking up._

_"Why? They fit you better—beautiful and innocent."_

_Blushing at his comment, the girl shook her head and explained, "Because I want you to have them. Because you always come to visit us during the little free time you have. And you always listen to me whine and complain. You do all this even though Dr. J might get really mad at you. Well, you know, Mary likes you and she's always so happy after you visit and…"_

_As she trailed off, Heero's expression softened as he reached out to softly tilt her head up to look into her eyes. Smiling gently, he pulled her into a hug, careful not to crush the lilies in his arm._

_"I would do anything for you, Rebecca."_

* * *

"Hey! What—oomph!" 

Duo gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. He lay on the matted floor, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath.

"Damn it, Heero," Duo coughed as he rolled to his side, glaring up at his sparring partner. "What are you so angry about?"

"Serves you right for not staying in shape," Wufei said from the sidelines.

"Wufei, be nice," Sally reprimanded. Wufei grumbled incoherently in response.

Duo still managed to laugh as he sat up. "Whipped."

"Duo…"

Duo gulped as he turned to smile sheepishly at Hilde, chuckling nervously, "Just kidding, babe!"

"Yuy! Where are you going?" Wufei asked. "We're supposed to spar."

"Spar with Duo," Heero replied, leaving the room and heading outside.

"What! How insulting, for _me_ to spar with _him_!"

"Wufei…"

"Sorry," the Chinese man mumbled, already fearing the braided man's comments.

Duo, surprisingly, did not take the opportunity to tease Wufei. Instead, he watched Heero's retreating form in thoughtful confusion.

"Heero's acting…weird."

"Duo, he's always acting weird," Hilde said, rolling her eyes.

"No, there's something bothering him."

"How can you tell?" his girlfriend asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What, you doubt the abilities of the great Shinigami?"

Despite Hilde and Wufei's disbelieving snorts, Duo crossed his legs and propped an elbow on one of his knees in serious thought.

"We should have come sooner and I could have witnessed all the events that led to a worried Heero," Duo griped. "Damn woman taking so long in the damn bathroom."

Hilde growled and slapped Duo, causing the man to fall onto the mat and nurse his red cheek.

"That teaches you for sounding like Wufei!"

"Hey! I resent that, woman!"

"Just what we all need—another Wufei," Sally sighed, shaking her head.

"Hey! I'm right here!"

* * *

_"I don't think sleeping in the rain is a good idea, onichan," a blonde girl said as her clear blue eyes looked down at him, holding an umbrella above his head._

_"Mary?" he asked, confused._

_"You know my sister, onichan?" the girl asked, confused._

_Heero nodded as he sat up, looking at the young girl in front of him. She resembled that little girl from a few days ago, only older—the same age as he, probably._

_"Well, she's in the hospital now. The doctors found her in time during that explosion a few days ago. My parents—they didn't make it."_

_Guilt filling his heart at the saddened expression on her innocent face, Heero looked down to see the withering yellow flower. _

_"I'm sorry."_

_"Don't worry," she replied, forcing a smile on her face. "The doctors say she will be fine. Would you like to come visit her, onichan?"_

_"Sure."_

_The young girl smiled and offered a hand to help him up. He placed his hand in hers, noticing how soft her hand was compared to his own calloused palm. _

_"What's your name, onichan?"_

_Heero frowned slightly as he thought about that question. _

_"Heero. Heero Yuy."_

_"Heero Yuy? Are you related to that leader who died a long time ago?"_

_"No," he replied slowly. "I just like the name."_

_"Oh. Well, I'm Rebecca DuMaurier. My parents gave me my name, although I don't really like it."_

_"I think it's a very beautiful name. It suits you."_

_Heero felt his lips turn up in a small smile as a small blush crept up her face._

* * *

Heero lay on the grass, staring up at the artificial night sky. He watched as synthetic dark clouds gathered, threatening to burst in a downpour. He didn't want to think about what that man had said—he didn't want to believe that any of this could be true. He had tried to leave his past behind, all of it. But it seems that his past just wouldn't let him go.

* * *

_"I've always wanted to go to the Earth," the blonde commented, plucking blades of grass._

_"I've been there," the young boy lying next to her replied._

_"Really? What's it like?"_

_"I don't know. I've only been there on missions."_

_"Oh. That's no fun. Have you at least seen the ocean?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"What's it like?"_

_"Big and blue."_

_The girl giggled, playfully flicking some grass onto his chest._

_"It is," he defended._

_"You're always so serious, Heero. I mean, was it pretty? Did the sand feel good beneath your feet? Did the wind smell fresh and salty?"_

_"You read too much fantasy, Rebecca."_

_"You're probably just afraid to show some skin. That's why you weren't at the beach for too long."_

_Heero frowned at her and sat up. Reaching to his waist, he pulled his shirt over his head._

_"What are you doing!" Rebecca exclaimed, covering her blushing face._

_"You issued a challenge."_

_"I—I did not! I was just kidding!"_

_"I see you peeking."_

_"I—I am not!" Rebecca squealed as she reached over and punched him in the arm._

_Wincing, Heero shrunk back and pulled his shirt back on._

_"I have my shirt back on now."_

_Rebecca looked at him from between her fingers. Scrunching up her nose, she punched him again._

_"Hey. Stop hitting me."_

_"Serves you right."_

_"I shouldn't have taught you how to punch," Heero muttered, rubbing his sore arm. "It hurts."_

_Rebecca smiled proudly and said, "I learned from the best."_

_"Of course you did," Heero retorted as he drew an arm around her waist, pulling her down to lie with him on the grass. Rebecca smiled as she curled into his side, head resting on his chest._

_"Heero?"_

_"Hm?"_

_"Do you promise to always be here for me?"_

_"Rebecca, I already told you I'd do anything for you."_

_"But do you promise?" she insisted, hugging him tighter. Feeling him sigh, she steeled herself for his negative answer._

_"I promise to always protect you."_

_Rebecca's head snapped up in surprise, and she felt herself lost in the intensity of his dark blue eyes. Smiling, she nodded and placed her cheek against his chest, hearing the soft beating of his heart. She felt him tilt his head down to press a soft kiss at the crown of her head, and she sighed as she lightly dozed off to the feel of his arms wrapped safely around her._

* * *

The first few drops of rain fell, wetting his cheeks. Eyes closing, he recalled the last time it rained on the colonies—the day before he left for earth on his mission. The day he left a part of his heart behind.

* * *

_Rebecca smiled as she saw Heero waiting for her at the bottom of the steps. Dashing away from the window, she quickly ran out the front door to greet him._

_"Heero, how creepy for you to come calling in the middle of the night," she teased, grinning as she walked up to him. However, he had his head down and she couldn't see his face clearly. "Heero-kun?"_

_He finally lifted his head, and she unconsciously took a step back at the coldness in his eyes._

_"H-Heero-kun? What's wrong? Are you okay?"_

_"I'm leaving."_

_Rebecca blinked, confused by his statement. Then she smiled and rolled her eyes at his seriousness of such a trivial issue._

_"Why didn't you just leave a letter on my nightstand like you usually do? Well, when will you be back? Where are you going, anyways?"_

_Heero narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to reply cruelly._

_"I'm heading for earth. And I'm not coming back."_

_"What?" Rebecca asked, brows furrowing. "You always come back."_

_"The mission commences tonight."_

_"I believe in you," Rebecca continued unfazed. "I know you'll come back…to me."_

_Heero's cold look faltered at her faith, but he placed a mask of indifference onto his face. He didn't want her waiting for him when he might not even return. He knew that this was for the best._

_"I will do anything to complete my mission, even at the cost of my own life."_

_"You said you'd do anything for me."_

_"Rebecca…"_

_Heero found that his mask had now fallen when she said that. He did say he'd do anything for her, but he also promised to always protect her. And in order to protect her, he had to complete his missions. To protect her, he'd sacrifice his life._

_"Don't go! I don't want you to go!" Rebecca burst out, tears rolling down her cheeks even as the first few drops of rain washed them away. "Don't leave me…please."_

_"I'm sorry," Heero whispered, torn between just running off and gathering her into his arms. "I have to go."_

_"Why! Why must you go?"_

_"To protect you."_

_The rain fell harder, filling up the silence after his whispered statement. They stood still for a few minutes, neither willing to look at the other in the eye—afraid of the love and hurt they'd find._

_"Please don't leave me," Rebecca whispered again. "My parents, then Mary, and now you…"_

_Heero winced as he recalled how her family had all passed away. And it was all his fault. He had been selfish. He had caused her so much pain._

_"Maybe it's better that I leave," Heero finally replied, fists clenched at his sides. "It seems that I bring more pain than happiness to you."_

_Turning, he refused to look at her as he had the urge to embrace and comfort her. It pained him to see her like this, not able to truthfully her how much he loved her. But he didn't deserve her or her love._

_"The Heavens, they cry for us, as if they had long since predicted our tragic fate. Perhaps we are not meant to find happiness in this world."_

_Heero's eyes widened in surprise at such a comment from her, but he knew what she meant—they met in the rain, and now they were leaving each other in the rain. Maybe she was right—they were not meant to find happiness. Maybe he wasn't meant to find happiness. _

_"Good-bye," he whispered before he walked away, never looking back._

* * *

"I don't think sleeping in the rain is a good idea," a feminine voice interrupted his thoughts. 

Snapping his eyes open, Heero found himself staring into concerned but kind blue eyes.

"You'll catch a cold if you just lie there," she continued, shaking her head.

Heero noticed that she held an umbrella above his face, shielding him from the rain. Sighing quietly, he lifted himself up from the ground.

"Thank you, Umi."

Blinking in surprise, Umi was at a loss of how to reply. So she awkwardly held the umbrella up between them, racking her brain for an appropriate reply.

"You're welcome."

Umi nearly kicked herself. That was the most obvious reply when someone thanked you, yet it sounded strange. Releasing a deep breath, Umi shivered as she felt the coldness of the storm creep through her skin.

Although still deep in his thoughts, Heero noticed that the girl beside him shivered. Umi reminded him more and more of Rebecca everyday—the two were both stubborn and temperamental yet caring and determined.

* * *

_Rebecca shivered as the two of them walked across the park, the rain pounding heavily on the small umbrella they huddled under. Suddenly, she felt something fall on her shoulders and looked up to see Heero glancing down at her in concern. He had draped his coat around her._

_"Thank you," she murmured, smiling as she snuggled into the coat and inhaling his scent._

_Heero merely smiled as he pulled her into his side, placing his head on top of hers._

* * *

Umi started as she felt something drop onto her shoulders. Then the umbrella was taken from her fingers and she glanced at the man beside her with a raised eyebrow. However, he remained silent. 

Smiling slightly, she pulled the coat tighter around her shoulders.

"Thank you, Heero."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

This was so sad I was very nearly crying when I wrote it! If you're confused, Heero meets Rebecca a few days after the explosion (in Endless Waltz). Some of you might still be confused with the whole Rebecca and Mary thing, but I don't really want to explain too much just in case I'll need its ambiguity later. As for Rebecca, I kind of based her off of Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca, although now I'm not sure if the two characters have any similarities other than their name. Anyways, I suggest that you read the book anyways, because I really enjoyed it.

After I revised it, I added some scenes that were sort of foreshadowed in earlier chapters. I think I might have made their parting a little less dramatic although I like it better now. Love what Rebecca says, and the fact she never said good-bye to Heero. Hm…wonder if there's a reason for that? Anyways, this was short, although still longer than the last chapter. Almost decided to split Chapter VIII into two parts: last chapter and this one.

Once again, thanks to all my readers and especially the reviewers for taking the time to leave feedback! I always enjoying reading what you guys think of the story so far and how I can improve on my writing. Thank you all so much!

* * *

**Mainey:** Heero loves to do the unexpected. 

**Hyper Italian Girl:** I am guessing that thing you wrote was in Italian and it's the exact same thing as what you wrote in English? I want to learn Italian. Fun!

**Kaiya:** Yes, procrastination is never the answer—yet, I never learn. Thanks for your encouragement in regards to the poorly written action scene. And we'll see if the girls get their powers in this world. But if the cat's allowed to have powers, then so are the girls. Okay, I'm not going to ruin the latter chapters. Haha.

**Somnus:** Used many of your ideas. Heero jealous at Taylor, Heero jealous at certain males from Umi's life, Heero liking Umi for her personality (or maybe because she reminds him of Rebecca, not so much fluff although I'm working on that, and some others are still in the process of working there way in there. Anyways, thanks so much! Keep the ideas rolling!

**Moonstorm:** I always knew Relena was evil too. Shame she doesn't show enough wickedness in this story. Yes, jealous Heero! Strange, huh? I love Fluffy (Harry Potter)!

**Vhez:** Thanks!

**Mistress of Ice:** Of course you get credit for the idea! It was your idea! Haha.

**Lainie:** I'm glad you like this fic so much! I hope the revised chapters are even better!

**Setsuna Bu:** Unfortunately, I tried to make Relena annoying but that didn't work. And I also agree that the canon pairings of Umi aren't the greatest. Although I was obsessed with ClefxUmi for a while. Thankfully that's over.

**Mei-chan:** You mean the coupling is kawaii? Because that's what I think. Hehe.

**FieryAvatar:** Your criticism is very much appreciated. Seriously. As you can see, I've revised all the stories and hopefully they are somewhat to your approval. If you think anything else needs tuning, please let me know. Thanks!

**DrgnXero:** I've actually toyed with the idea of Umi finding out about his past, and I think I will use it. But that'll come in later. You'll see. Hehe.

**Fudge: **I'm trying to update as soon as I can! Ah! So hard to write! Ah!

**Medy:** Neopets froze my account for no reason! They said I went onto a scam site, even though I haven't logged on in a year. gR.

**Shattered Reflection:** I huggle too! I love huggling! Huggles!

**Teh Natural Siren:** Too much sugar AND caffeine in soda. But I live on that stuff. Haha.

**Shy-Lil-Dreamer:** I'm so glad you've actually been following this story even all this time. WaH! I love you!

**Shirli817:** Trust me, you don't want to read the older chapters. These new ones are much better. I hope you enjoyed!

**SOinLUV:** I'm glad you think I'm doing just dandy! Although I would still love to hear some ideas! Hehe.


	11. Chapter X: The Lost

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing or Magic Knight Rayearth. They belong to Bandai and Clamp, respectively.

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World 2 World  
Chapter X: The Lost

Experienced fingers danced across the keyboard, never once slowing down their quick pace. Prussian blue eyes focused intently on the screen as windows opened, words and numbers formed, and images appeared. A mug of coffee sat next to the laptop, still full.

Letting out a deep breath, Heero finally stopped typing and leaned back into the chair, stretching his fingers out in front of him. Suppressing a yawn, he picked up the mug and sipped, only to find that it was now cool. Blinking, he looked at the drinking and took a few minutes to process the coldness of the container in his hand. Apparently caffeine did help to keep his mind more aware.

Finally Heero decided to leave his sanctuary to get himself a fresh drink. The second he stepped out of his darkened room, something ran into his side. Looking down to his left, he found a blue-haired girl sitting on the floor with a surprised look on her face. Heero tried to clear his mind, wondering why he had not sense her out here or even heard her next to him.

Reaching his free hand down, Heero asked with a tired and worn voice, "You okay?"

Umi glared up, ready to bite his head off, but noticing his tired face, her irritation dissipated. Taking his hand, she instead replied, "Yes, thanks."

Nodding, he released her hand and turned around. After two steps, he turned back with a quizzical look.

"Why are you up so late?"

"Excuse me?"

Too tired to repeat himself, Heero continued to stare at her, expecting an answer to his question. He wanted to know why she was lurking around the hallway in the middle of the night.

Sensing his aversion to speaking again, Umi shrugged and said, "It's actually fairly early."

Heero continued to stare. Early in the morning, late at night—what's the difference? That didn't answer his question as to why she was sneaking through the house while it was still dark out.

"In fact, I believe it's around six in the morning."

Heero's face maintained a blank expression, yet his eyes expressed his surprise and confusion.

Seeing the sparkle in his eyes, Umi sighed in annoyance.

"Yes, I realize that I don't usually wake up this early. In fact, I don't think I've ever woken up this early, unless it's because of a nightmare or Hikaru…"

Ignoring the rest of her rant, Heero tried to process the time of day. Either she was just stupid or he was more disoriented than he had previously thought.

"It's six in the morning?"

"…dumping cold water onto—what?" Umi stopped talking to look at the young man in front of her suspiciously. Producing a watch on her wrist, she pointed and reiterated, "Yes. See? Little hand on the six and big hand near the twelve equals six. And the light coming from outside equals morning. Therefore, six in the morning."

Apparently, he'd been working for longer than he thought. Staring down at the mug in his hand, Heero sighed. This was going to be a long day.

"Heero?"

He spared her a quick glance.

"Are you okay?"

After a few seconds' thought, he shrugged tiredly.

"Okay. Should I make some coffee for you?" Umi asked, catching sight of his full but cool mug of dark liquid. Obviously he had failed to put his supply of caffeine to good use. The last time she pulled an all-nighter without any caffeine—well, the results could be seen on her test the next day, in the form of saliva.

Too tired to argue or complain, Heero complied with a nod. At least he did not have to take the energy to make the coffee—not that it was a difficult task in the first place.

"Here, give me the mug," Umi said as she pried the container out of his hands, afraid he'd spill it on the way. "As long as they have a coffee-maker here, we'll be fine."

If she was referring to those old-fashioned machines with the pot and all—Heero let out a deep breath. Maybe it was too much for him to hope for someone else making something as simple as coffee for him.

Realizing that Heero had not moved, Umi turned back around and rolled her eyes. Grabbing his hand, she proceeded to lead him like a little child.

_'How degrading,'_ Heero thought as she dragged him down the stairs. Nevertheless, he didn't complain—he rather liked the feel of his hand in hers.

* * *

"Wow. If I went 3 nights without sleep, well, I wouldn't be here right now." Umi held the coffee to her lips, letting her breath skim the surface of the liquid. "And you definitely need to sleep. Or at least have some caffeine with you if you're not going to sleep. You look…no, you _are_ very disoriented." 

Heero grunted and simply downed his tenth mug of coffee in one gulp. Sighing loudly, he poured himself another cup, but this time, holding it up to his face with both hands, relishing the warmth in his hands and taking a deep, silent breath of the strong aroma.

"What were you doing up all night anyways? Staring at your laptop?"

"…more or less."

"Huh. You're such a dork."

He growled in response.

"Honestly though, you're not acting very healthy."

He muttered incoherently before taking a small sip of the drink in his hands.

"I'm serious. You look like you need a massage too."

"Are you offering?"

"Hah! You wish."

"I do."

Umi blinked, taken off guard. "You are definitely in dire need of caffeine and sleep."

"Are you going with to the New Year's Ball?"

"Maybe. Why, are you asking?"

"Maybe," he echoed.

Umi raised an eyebrow. "Okay, you've either had too little sleep or too much coffee. Either way, it's disrupting your thought process."

Heero rolled his eyes. "And the consequences of my trying to be nice."

"Now that's definite proof of your loss of sanity…not that you were any more sane before."

Heero growled again.

"And why are you asking anyways? It's not for another week, right?"

He shrugged. "It's a topic of conversation."

Umi grinned, looking at him in satisfaction. "No. I think you're worried."

The ex-pilot scoffed.

"You're afraid someone like Taylor will try to ask me out again."

Heero's eyes narrowed, but then he relaxed. "Hn. Didn't realize you knew he was asking you out."

She shrugged. "I didn't want to hurt him."

He snorted. "With the way he was acting, I doubt he would be hurt if you rejected him. More like mad."

"More of a reason not to reject him."

Heero shrugged in consent.

"Besides, it's not like I could tell he was like that just by talking to him for a few minutes."

"He was pretty shallow to be attracted to a pretty woman in the first place."

"Most people judge a person by their looks first," Umi countered, but then smirked. "Did you just call me pretty?"

"Did you hear me say 'you' and 'pretty' in the same sentence?"

"Don't deny it—you implied it!"

"Are you trying to rhyme?"

"Stop changing the subject!"

Heero tried to ignore her and simply sipped his drink.

"Aw, admit it!"

Heero's lips did not leave the mug.

"You think I'm _gorgeous_. You want to _kiss_ me…you want to _hug_ me…you want to _love_ me…you want to _smooch_ me…you want to _hug_ me."

"Shut up."

Umi giggled. "Lighten up," she said, swatting him playfully in the arm. Smirking, she began in her singsong voice again, "You think I'm _gorgeous_…you want to _kiss_ me…you want to _date_ me…"

A hand at the back of her head suddenly pulled her face forward, her lips meeting another's. Eyes widening in surprise, Umi then quickly closed them in content, leaning forward to caress his lips better.

After a few moments, the two parted, slightly out of breath despite the shortness of the kiss. The two different hues of blue met, clashing and whirling in a fight to understand and grasp the other.

"You had too much coffee."

Heero raised one eyebrow at this unexpected comment.

"Not only do you have coffee-breath, but you taste—"

The young girl was cut off as a braided man burst into the kitchen, collapsing onto the counter in feigned exhaustion. The couple suddenly noticed their proximity and immediately backed away. Umi looked down, her cheeks tinted red, and Heero glared at the disruption.

"I…need…coffee…" Duo dramatically pulled his head over the counter and reached for the coffee, his fingers flexing just a few inches away.

"Stop being so dramatic, Maxwell," Wufei said as he entered the kitchen, swatting Duo's hands away from the coffee, only to reach for a mug and place it under the dispenser for himself.

The self-claimed Shinigami huffed, lifting himself up onto a stool next to Umi and defended, "I was not being dramatic. I only had two hours of sleep last night."

Duo reached over and took the filled mug from under the dispenser, taking a long drink.

"Maxwell! Get your own damn coffee!"

"Looks like someone didn't get much sleep last night either and is very grumpy without their caffeine," Duo said childishly while nodding in rhythm.

"I'm warning you, Maxwell…"

"Both of you, shut up."

The two arguers looked at their commander in surprise. However, his cold stare made them back down immediately.

"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Duo ventured after a few seconds of silence.

"_I_ did not have _any_ sleep at all last night, mainly due to the ruckus that you and your girlfriend was making for nearly _half_ the night," Heero snarled, venting his frustration and fatigue.

"I understand, Yuy," Wufei agreed, nodding his head. "I wouldn't sleep at all either if I was roomed right next to those two."

"Hey! We weren't _that_ loud!"

He received two disbelieving stares.

"Well, it's not my fault Quatre doesn't make his rooms soundproof! Surprising considering how loud _they_ are..."

"I think I've heard enough," Umi interrupted, standing up.

Duo glanced at her sheepishly and pat her arm, "Sorry, babe."

Umi rolled her eyes but Heero gave him a dark glare that went unnoticed—or ignored.

"You're forgiven. Just watch your mouth the next time you're in the presence of a lady." Heero snorted at her response, causing her to turn and stick out her tongue at him. He simply rolled his eyes to which she elegantly twirled her back to him and flipped her hair over her shoulders, strutting extravagantly out of the kitchen.

"How long have you guys been down here anyways? What were you _doing_ down here, and all alone too?" Duo raised his eyebrows suggestively, his smile ever widening.

Heero continued to leave the room, but not without turning over his shoulder and replying, "Fortunately, nothing that involves you."

Duo's mouth dropped and he glanced at Wufei, who simply shrugged and shook his head, preferring to stay out of other people's personal issues.

**

* * *

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Heero moved the mint around his mouth, savoring its fresh and enticing taste. After a few more minutes, he put his hand to his mouth and let out a breath. Satisfied he no longer had coffee-smelling breath, he turned his attention back to the screen.

But as the data continued to process, Heero frowned. It shouldn't be difficult, especially for him, to find even a thread of information on a single person. However, there were no files whatesoever, which is impossible because he knew for a fact this person existed. Unless, of course, someone had decided to erase this person from existence, then that would explain the lack of data.

Heero growled, wondering why anyone would want to erase these files. No one knew of their connection, except Dr. J who might have had a slight hint—but the man was dead. Annoyed, he crunched down hard on the candy in his mouth and smirked in satisfaction as it shattered into many pieces and dissolved on his tongue.

Hearing loud laughter and screaming from outside, Heero stood up from his seat, hearing a few bones groan in protest. Stretching to release the tension in his msucles and joints, he then made his way to the window and pulled back the heavy curtains. Blinking his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, he squinted down towards the grounds.

Apparently, the group outside had moved their snowfight to right below his window. At the moment, Hikaru and Umi were running have Duo, whose braid was now filled with melting snow. Duo ran to hide behind Hilde, who simply smiled evilly and slammed a fistful of snow into his face. With a loud warcry, Duo grabbed Hilde and threw her into the snow.

Umi laughed and dropped her snowball in the process, allowing Duo the chance to knock her and Hikaru down, and he promptly ran away again. Hilde and Hikaru immediately gave chase, but Umi glanced up to catch Heero's eye, waving at him and throwing him a bright smile.

Resisting the urge to smile back, Heero merely nodded in acknowledgement, watching as her smile widened and she waved for him to come down. With a firm shake of his head, he saw her pout, but she darted off again at a call from her friend. As they disappeared from sight, Heero allowed a small smile to appear on his lips before letting the curtains fall back into place.

Below, a small dark figure dropped onto the snow-covered ground and glanced up at the curtained window. Moving red eyes in the direction the blue-haired girl had disappeared, the black cat laid its ears back and opened its mouth to reveal long sharp canines, releasing an angry hiss.

**

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**Author's Notes:**

And the black cat returns! We have learned that it has…red eyes! Significance? I don't know. But it makes the cat all that cooler. Or, at least in my mind's eye. I'd make a skecth for you all, if I could draw properly. Well, if I could draw, then I wouldn't be writing stories but I'd be creating mangas!

Anyways, thank you all for bearing with me through my laziness and impatience. I have been reading more frequently now, but not writing as much. Haven't exactly lost interest in this story, just that other things have caught my attention. For example, Bleach. Which has been slightly satiated once I spit out some stories. But let's not go into that.

Don't know what I revised in this chapter, exactly. I wonder if I left out any important details. Well, not too important, since this chapter more of emphasizes the developing "relationship" between Heero and Umi. And Heero's suspicions and the fact that his instincts might be right (who is the mysterious person who has been "erased"?).

**Trivia:** Anybody know where the little "song" by Umi ("You want to kiss me…") came from? Virtual Heero or Umi plushie to those who can guess correctly!


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